The Uchiha Crest
by drunkdragon
Summary: Framed for the murder of his family, Prince Sasuke must flee from his kingdom while plotting his brother's downfall and proving himself innocent. Think Fire Emblem meets Naruto, except with ninjas. SasuSaku, NaruHina, het pairings. Details inside.
1. Save the Prince!

Hey all! Here is my fifth fanfic, 'The Uchiha Crest'! As of right now, my main computer is in need of repairs. It just happened to have all of my fics. So, from now on, I've decided to have all of my fics on a seperate drive to keep them safe. It may be troublesome, but it's worth it. I'll be working on my other fic as well, called 'I Play From the Other Side.' However, if I finish the first chapter for both of these stories, then I will begin to rewrite chapter 25 for Encyclopedia Ninja. 

Anyway, I came up with this story after playing too much Fire Emblem. So it'll be much like Fire Emblem, except with ninjas. I've tweaked a few things to make it fit my story. It is an AU, as you must have realized. The other Naruto characters will be introduced later, along with some OCs. Just to warn you, therewill be some CharOC pairings, along with some OC character deaths. There will be some humorous moments along with some serious ones.

Well, I think that's all I have to say.

I do not own Naruto or Fire Emblem

Onward!

* * *

The Uchiha Crest

Chapter 1: Save the Prince!

Hidden by the many trees of Konoha, not much can be seen. Villages, where the people lived, were hidden beneath its shadows. However, there was one thing that was not hidden beneath the tress, but rather placed high above them. On a hill lay Konoha Keep, a castle like no other. Fortified by jutsus as well as hard walls of stone, it was a behemoth to see. It was difficult to assail, as it only had oneentrance and only one pathway to the castle.Inside the walls were the king's courts, flowing with life. This is where the king's faithful shinobis trained.

But if by day it was pretty, then by night it was stunning. As soon as the sun had set, streetlights would illuminate the place, bouncing off of the houses and stores. At night, it was said that one could see the lights coming from Konoha all the way in the Suna Kingdom.

But today was a bit different. Servants hastily ran around the courts, making sure everything was right. Every plant must be cut to fit. Every fountain must be running. Every floor must be scrubbed clean.

Today was a special day.

Today was an important day.

Today was the day that the prince would become king.

But that would only be if the prince could survive his training for the day.

Slowly, the said prince dragged himself out onto the many training grounds where his teacher was waiting for him. Of all the days, why this one? Was there something wrong with his sensei that she must make him train himself to the ground? Heaving a sigh, the prince looked down at himself.

His name was Uchiha Sasuke, easily identified by his raven black hair, tall stature, and coal-black eyes. He stared down at himself, taking note of his black training pants. For his top, he wore a tight black shirt that easily revealed his muscular buildbeneath it. He hadhis Uchiha Crest pinned to it, hanging right above his heart. Trailing down to his wrists, they each had bandages trailing just a bit short of his elbow.

The crest represented what family the person was from, although only shinobis wore them. Whenever a shinobi killed another, the winner would take the crest as proof of his victory. So far, Sasuke had none, but he would soon. Once he became king, he would finally be able to explore the world outside of Konoha.

Sasuke smiled to himself. Only royalty or those related could have the Uchiha Crest on their clothing. It was a fan. The top half was red while the bottom half was white. It was unmistakable. For those who were related to the Uchihas but would not rule, their crests were blue where it would have been red. Admiring himself a little more, his eyes trailed down to the hilt of his sword. He pulled it out before examining its beauty.

In his hands lay the Chidori. It was the family weapon, passed on to the son or daughter who would rule as king or queen. Its power was one of a kind: whenever enough chakra was channeled into it, it would crackle with electricity and, with a thrust, could pierce through the thickest armor. It was rather legendary, with many stories behind it. It was said that it would take the proper form of the sword the ruler was most familiar with. It was also said that it chooses its own wielder. That was how Sasuke became its owner.

_Begin Flashback_

It was his brother's coronation ceremony. Everything was going as planned. All of the Uchihas were present. The plants were cut just right. The fountains were running. Every floor was scrubbed spotless. Everybody was dressed for the occasion. As Sasuke's father handed the Chidori to his brother, Itachi, the old man knelt down on one knee and bowed, showing that he gave up his position of ruling to his firstborn son. Itachi was born six years before Sasuke. He was fifteen at the time of his brother's coronation.

As Itachi gripped the hilt of the sword, sudden bolts of electricity coursed through the sword and shocked Itachi rather badly. The sword cluttered to the ground. Quickly, Sasuke reacted. The show must go on, he thought to himself. Gently picking it up from the ground, he copied his father's actions and once again presented the sword to his brother. Suddenly, a murmur ran through the crowd. Sasuke's father quickly tried to yank the sword from Sasuke, but he was shocked, very much like Itachi. Thinking quickly, the old man knew that the sword had chosen Sasuke. Standing up, he announced that Sasuke would be king and that his coronation ceremony would take place in six years time.

_End Flashback_

A ringing of a bell got Sasuke out of his stupor. He looked at where the noise came from. It was nine o'clock.

"Shit," the young soon-to-be king swore.

He was late for training. Pumping as much chakra as he knew was safe into his legs, he quickly took off for the training grounds. The servants jumped out of the way to give Sasuke as much room as possible. As he reached the training grounds, he breathed a sigh of relief. So far, there was no sign of his sensei. A cheery feminine voice, however, caught him off guard.

"You're late, Sasuke-kun." The front side of a katana quickly found its way beneath his neck, the cold metal biting at his skin.

"Hn. Don't call me Sasuke-kun," the prince threatened. "Know your place, Haruno-dono." Sasuke really did not like his teacher. She stood a bit shorter than him, around five feet, five inches while he was five feet, eight inches. Her hair, for unknown reasons, was pink and was short while her eyes were green, the color traits present in all female Harunos. She had an abnormally large forehead, although the rest of her body remained in the proper shape. She always dressed in a red shirt along with matching shorts that ended a little above her knees. The only times when she did not wear such clothing was when she had to dress formally, which she hated. She wore her Haruno Crest on the sleeve of her shirt.

But what he really did not like about Sakura was that she was a year younger than him. It was a slap across the prince's face.

Sakura withdrew her sword, wearing a teasing smile. "Of course I know my place. I am your sensei, and you are my student. Speaking of which, you _will_ call me Sakura-sensei." She walked out in front of him. "And since you're late…" she turned to face him. Sasuke knew that she wouldn't punish him that badly. It was his coronation ceremony today after all. "Give me ten laps around the training grounds."

Sasuke's face blanched. "You can't be serious." The training grounds were HUGE. Ten laps made it even worse.

"You were late, and it is your punishment," Sakura huffed. "Now get going. And no chakra!"

"Hn," went Sasuke as he began his laps. "Crazy bitch," he muttered to himself.

Within no time, Sakura had kicked Sasuke in the back and tripped him. As Sasuke pushed himself up from the ground, a sudden weight had placed itself onto his back while the reverse side of Sakura's blade found its way beneath his neck. Suddenly, cold beads of sweat began to form on Sasuke's scalp.

"We have both been taught the shinobi arts when we were young children. However, it is my choice to teach you the Haruno Style, which is the only known style to be on par with the Uchiha Style," Sakura said coldly, sitting cross-legged on his back. The Haruno Style was a coveted style of swordplay. Although it also incorporated the usual sword slashing and whatnot, it was run on the idea of a counter style, parrying the first blow and retaliating with a killer strike. However, the blade itself was very unique. It had a dull front side, though the reverse was just as sharp as any other katana. Because of their style, they were able to beat their opponents into submission for capture missions or quickly cut their way through enemies to achieve a goal. The kingdom of Konoha was lucky to have the Haruno family serving under them.

"I can simply replace you," Sasuke answered, his eyes not leaving the blade.

"Empty threat. I am the best in my family. I'm pretty sure you know that. I beat my father when I was thirteen, which is why I replaced my father as your sensei. You of all persons should know that. You saw me beat him." Sakura moved the blade a bit closer to Sasuke's neck. "Perhaps you would like to be taught an weaker style?" Sasuke quickly shook his head. "Then you will treat me with respect," Sakura said, slowly retreating the blade from beneath Sasuke. She stood up from his back before returning her blade to its sheath. "Now get back to your laps."

Sasuke quickly got up. He hated it when she humiliated him. She probably did it for fun. It made him feel so… so… "… How is it that, even though you're younger than me, you're my sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"I've been taught nothing but the sword, the shinobi arts, enough for an education, and some manners. You've had to learn languages, etiquettes, military strategy, and many other things. I've simply had more time to focus on my training than you have," she answered. Feeling that that was all he would get out of her, he began his laps.

After the tenth lap, Sasuke felt ready to collapse. He did, in fact. When he was going too slow, Sakura let out a rather painful jutsu and had it chase after him, forcing him to run for his life. She must have been trying to kill him.

_'She probably enjoyed doing that…'_ Sasuke thought. _'She probably exists only to humiliate me..._

Sakura walked over to him. "Up, Sasuke-kun. I'm going to show you a sword technique." She reached into her tool pouch and took out a food pill. "Here, take this."

"Hai, Sakura-sensei." Sasuke quickly got up, took the pill and downed it, feeling energy flow through his body. She left and he began to follow her. "You know, Sakura-sensei, I feel that you live to humiliate me."

"Perhaps I do, Sasuke-kun, perhaps I do," a coy smile grew on Sakura's face as she approached the training dummies. "Alright," she stopped in front of a dummy and took out her sword before turning to face Sasuke. "Today, I will teach you the Three Step Cut. Watch as I demonstrate." She turned to face the dummy.

"This technique is made to counter overhead sword attacks. I'll show you slowly first." She posed the dummy so that it imitated an overhead attack. In a careful manner, Sakura used the blunt side of her sword to push the sword away to the side, firmly kicked the dummy close to the waist, and swung her sword back across her body using the inside of her blade to cleave the dummy's head off. "As you saw, you first push the blade to the side, followed by a kick to throw your opponent off balance and ending the technique with a horizontal slash, coming in the opposite direction of the parry." Sakura walked over to another dummy and set it up like before.

"Your turn, Sasuke-kun." With a nod, the young king-to-be drew out his Chidori. Normally, the Chidori would take the form of a katana, which was the sword used in the Uchiha Style. However, the Uchiha Style was reserved only for the firstborn, meaning that Sasuke didn't learn it. Any children after the first were taught the Haruno Style. However, once the Chidori had selected Sasuke as its wielder, it had changed itself to become a Haruno-style sword.

Swiftly, Sasuke executed the technique, wanting to impress his teacher. Not that he did it because she was a girl his age. Uchiha Sasuke would never do that, especially for Sakura. Smiling at his handiwork, he withdrew his sword. Sakura examined his work.

"Not bad for the first try. You just need to work on the kick. You want to aim at your opponent's center of gravity," Sakura commented. "Oh, and the last slash should be aimed at the neck. You hit your opponent a bit too high."

Sasuke hmphed. "At least it was faster than yours."

"I wasn't trying that time. This is how fast you will execute it when you perfect the technique," Sakura strode over to a dummy and quickly drew out her sword. What Sasuke saw next was only recorded as a blur. The only clear thing he saw was the dummies head falling off. Sakura put her sword into its scabbard before gently patting Sasuke on the shoulder, a cheery smile on her face.

"Don't worry, you'll get it soon enough, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said. There, they continued training for many hours, training past lunch and dinner before ending at about seven thirty at night. After inspecting Sasuke's Three Step Cut form, Sakura then stepped back.

"That ends today's training, Uchiha-sama. You may continue to practice here if you wish," she said. Having ended the training period, Sakura had gone back to being a ninja under the service of her liege. "However, I would suggest that you wash up and prepare for your coronation ceremony," she bowed to him. "May I take my leave, Uchiha-sama?"

How Sakura could suddenly change from a seemingly emotionless drone into a cheery sensei and then back confused Sasuke, ever since he was put under her tutelageseven years ago. It was always so flawless when she went from one phase to the other, and vice versa. "You are excused, Haruno-dono." Without another word, Sakura disappeared from his sight in a poof of smoke.

Quickly, Sasuke left the training grounds and headed inside the lit castle. Slowly, he walked up the spiraling staircase. Looking out of a window, he was high enough to see all of Konoha. Soon he would be the ruler of the wonderful land. It would all be his. He smiled before continuing his journey up the stairs, finally reaching his room.

His room was fairly luxurious, though not grand. It had enough luxuries to keep him happy while it wasn't too extravagant so he didn't feel pampered. He opened the door and gently placed his Chidori on his feather-soft bed. He quickly removed his clothes and tossed them into the hamper before walking into the bathroom to shower.

His coronation ceremony would be at nine o'clock tonight. That left him with what should be enough time to shower, meticulously get into the proper clothing that he needed to wear, and climb back down the stairs to the coronation hall. Sakura must really enjoy giving him a hard time.

* * *

"Excellent." A malicious, almost yellow glint was seen behind his eyes. He took out his sword and placed it on a table in front of him. The man quickly did a set of hand seals. "Lightning Fusion no Jutsu!" Immediately the sword in front of him began to crackle with electrical energy.

Just like how the Chidori would be when charged with chakra.

The throne would be his. It would belong to no one else, not even his little brother.

* * *

How could he have been so stupid? How would he ever be able to explain himself? 'Hello tou-san, hello kaa-san, I'm late for my coronation ceremony because I spent too much time in the shower.'

Just great. What a wonderful way to start yourself as king. Sasuke was quickly running down the corridor to the Throne Room. He was dressed in a red cape along with a gold breastplate, which adorned the Uchiha crest. Beneath it was a black shirt. He wore steel gauntlets and white pants. The bottom of it was hidden behind steel leg guards, which extended from the top of his shoes, which were black, to the middle of his knees. Stopping just outside the door, he readjusted his breastplate before taking a breath. Hoping that nothing would go too wrong, he reached for the door.

Before he could open it, hurried footsteps drew his attention away. "Uchiha-sama!" it was Sakura. "We must flee!" she quickly grasped his wrist and tried to drag him away from the door. She was dressed in a formal white kimono, her crest on her sleeve.

"What?" Sasuke blurted out. He yanked his hand back from her. "I need to be at the ceremony. Are you trying to pull a trick on me, Haruno-dono?"

"No, your majesty! But please, we must flee! Your brother-"

"Forget about my brother. This is about me!" without a second thought, Sasuke flung the door open.

What he saw brought his world crashing down. He saw every Uchiha he ever knew, from his uncle twice removed to his mother. Wide-eyed, he realized something; they were all mercilessly slaughtered. Blood was spilt on the ground and had splashed onto the windows. Suddenly, Sasuke found it hard to breath.

"Sasuke." The said prince turned around to see his brother.

"Nii-san…what happened? Everyone's dead…" Sasuke approached his older brother, but was surprised when he saw him draw out his blade. The older brother slashed the air, flinging blood from his sword onto his brother.

"You killed them."

"What?" Sasuke dumbfoundedly responded.

"You killed our family! You killed everyone!" Itachi yelled, drawing the attention of the servants to the room they were in, "I will extract revenge for them!" Drawing out his sword, Itachi quickly aimed a horizontal slash at Sasuke's face. The young prince, upon instinct, leaned backwards. However, he was not unscathed; Itachi's sword had given him a horizontal cut on his cheek. The prince held the cut on his face, the blood slowly dripping down his cheeks. Suddenly, it all made sense.

"You killed them, didn't you, Itachi? And you're going to frame me for it, right?" Sasuke quietly muttered. His brother remained silent as Itachi began another attack on his shocked brother.

"Uchiha-sama! Move!" Sakura called out to her student. However, she became worried when Sasuke hadn't budged. Taking out her sword, she blocked the blow before grabbing Sasuke's hand. She quickly led him to the window and jumped through it, the glass shattering and falling around them, being sure to gently cradle Sasuke from harm. Using some chakra, she landed on her feet before setting Sasuke down. She did not let go of his wrist, however, and continued to drag the now shocked prince. Taking a look around, Sakura noticed that they were outside in the castle courts.

"Uchiha-sama, please! We must escape the castle grounds!" Apparently, Sasuke was able to comprehend the words 'escape the castle grounds' and followed after Sakura, his wrist still in her grip. Running down the paths, they encountered three regular shinobi guards.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you are hereby under arrest for the killing of your family. Lay down your arms." When Sasuke did nothing, they took out their swords.

Before they could begin their attack, Sakura immediately cut down the guard who had spoke to Sasuke. The other two, in their surprise, were killed as well. Sakura swooped down and quickly took their crests before putting her sword away. She grabbed Sasuke's wrist once again and took off running. They ran until they reached the gates.

It was guarded by a swarm of ANBU shinobis, who were the best shinobis in the land of Konoha. They wore black cloaks and white masks to make sure that no one except those in the group knew who they were. They didn't even wear crests. "Uchiha!" the ANBU captain called out to him. The only way Sasuke knew that he was the captain was that he wore a white cloak instead of a black one. "I cannot let you live after what you've done. You will die here!" Taking out his sword, the ANBU captain charged at the fugitive.

The captain was very fast, Sakura noted, probably faster than Sasuke could react. Quickly, she drew her own sword and parried the blow away before the prince could get hurt. "Forgive me, Uchiha-sama," Sakura said before she quickly scooped him up. Putting some chakra into her legs, she pushed off hard, leaping high over the gates. Fumbling in her tool pouch, she pulled out a smoke bomb and tossed it where she landed before quickly using chakra to escape.

That was when Sasuke came to his senses. "I'll kill you, Itachi! You hear me? I'll kill you!" he fought against Sakura to try and struggle free so that he could go back to kill his brother, but she held on tightly.

"Uchiha-sama, I understand your anger towards your brother, but as of right now, your survival is top priority!" Sakura tightened her grip while she kept running, ignoring the prince's request to be put down.

Sasuke would never forget that night, nor would he want to remember it.

* * *

Suggestions for the story line would be gladly accepted. I have some ideas, but I will need more. 


	2. Planning and Kissing

Hey everyone! I decided to update this fic because I feel thatI havesome writer's block forEncyclopedia Ninja and thus decided to work on this fic. Anyway, reviews!

Pyr00tie: This may be a shocker for you, but Naruto is neither!And I have good reasoning. However, this story will be fairly long and Naruto may not be introduced until later.

Frostbite Wings: Thank you for the suggestion, but I feel that it's a bit too unbelievable. I'm sorry if this sort of hurts you.

Freakenout: There was a mistake in the first posting of the chapter, butit talks about a man enfusing his sword with lightning. The lightning made it seem like the Chidori killed the everyone. Also, when Itachi flung the blood at Sasuke, he flung the sword fast enough to get all of the blood off. Thus, Sasuke was accused.

Amaterasu777: Happy late birthday! And yes, you should play Fire Emblem! It's a great game!

jasx316: Sorry, but I already planned out how Naruto will join them. However, like stated above, he won't be introduced till later.

A/N: I have a feeling that each of these chapters will be pretty long, so updates probably won't be very frequent, although I'll try. Also, having finally played Guilty Gear (a wonderful fighting game on which I am now hooked on), there will be influences from it. I remember recieving an email from someone about how Naruto should have some of Sol Badguy's techniques for my Encyclopedia Ninja fic. But I couldn't put it into that fic, so I'm putting it into this one!

I do not own Naruto or Guilty Gear.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter 2: Planning and Kissing

It was dark.

It was cold.

It was the perfect time to brood.

Uchiha Sasuke was brooding. He was brooding on how he would kill his brother. He was brooding on how he would slowly torture his brother, tearing him apart one limb at a time. Sasuke fingered his cut on his cheek, swearing that he would return the favor a thousand times over and a thousand times more deadly. He was also brooding on how he would prove his innocence to his countrymen, but that came at a distant second. Slowly, Sasuke was pacing around on the forest grounds.

But he wasn't just brooding. He was wallowing in sadness. Sasuke had just lost everything that was dear to him. His family, his kingdom, everything was now snatched away. All those years of anticipating how it would feel to be king have gone to waste.

"Uchiha-sama, if I may ask, what are you thinking about?" Sakura asked him. She had been standing patiently, watching him go from one side of the glade to the other, always keeping her sights on either Sasuke or the surrounding area to make sure that no one was following them.

"I am planning about my brother's destruction, and how to achieve it."

More pacing.

"What have you planned out so far, Uchiha-sama?"

A scoff before silence

"Well?"

"Nothing so far."

"Did you have a particular method, perhaps, Uchiha-sama?"

"Not yet."

Sakura let out a gentle, yet crestfallen sigh. "Uchiha-sama, it's getting late. I suggest that we rest and think of a plan tomorrow," Sakura looked up at the parts of the sky that were not blocked out by trees. Stars stood out against the darkness of the night. She looked back at Sasuke to see that he was looking at her. She quickly let her eyes fall dismally to the ground.

Sasuke found her action to be a bit confusing before gruffly replying, "Yes, you're right, Haruno-dono, we should get some rest. But what about you?"

"Do not worry, Uchiha-sama. I will stay on watch for tonight. I hope you rest easily," She said all this while avoiding eye contact with him.

Sasuke ignored that fact for now. He was angry, and more often than not, being angry made him tired. Looking around, he saw a small flat stone sticking out of the ground. Walking over, he gently lay down and closed his eyes. It was fairly cold that night, but his coronation armor kept him warm. Breathing deeply, he made sure that his sword was beside him before letting the sweet boon of sleep come and take him.

He quickly turned onto his right side.

Then he turned onto his back once again.

Suddenly, he twisted himself so that he was on his left side.

"Something wrong, Uchiha-sama?" Sakura asked.

"No, nothing's wrong."

More shifting.

"Are you sure that nothing's wrong, Uchiha-sama?" Sakura asked again, worry in her voice. Sasuke looked at her, and was frustrated when she dropped her eyes away from his. Since when did she start to not look him in the eye? What had happened? Deciding to play low, he gave his response.

"It's nothing too important. It's just that…"

"Yes, Uchiha-sama?"

"It's too uncomfortable for me to fall asleep."

Sakura frowned. But Sasuke couldn't see that because she wasn't looking at him. Slowly, she walked over to him. She knelt down and grasped his hand and gently pulled him up before leading him to the base of a tree. Sasuke was surprised that she had held his hand (and in such a gentle manner) that he was sporting a very small blush and a very bewildered look, though the darkness hid it. She gently placed Sasuke's head on the ground before sitting at the base of the tree and placed his head on her lap.

Now Sasuke was really confused and his blushed increased. He blushed not only because his head was on her lap but also because his head was right under her breasts. Sakura had never acted like this before. "Haruno-dono? What are you doing?" he said, not angry but simply befuddled.

Sakura wore a gentle smile and looked at Sasuke's hair. "As of right now, your survival is, as I said before, top priority. That means that you must be healthy and to be healthy you must sleep well."

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. The fact that she was completely avoiding his eyes was aggravating. "Haruno-dono, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Uchiha-sama." Now she was the one against the ropes.

Sasuke decided that something was definitely wrong and he played his trump card. "Sakura, what's wrong?" The pink-haired girl instantly snapped to attention.

He never called her by her first name unless he wanted something out of her or the suffix "sensei" was at the end of it. She remained silent. "There's something you're not telling me. I'm not mad, just… concerned for your well-being. If you're supposed to protect me, and yet can't look me in the eye, then how can you do your job?"

Sakura gave off a small sigh before beginning, conceding to his point. She closed her eyes. "The year after your brother's coronation ceremony, your brother began to act strangely. I don't know if you saw it, since you rarely spent time with your brother, but he wasn't himself. At that time, the Harunos suspected that your brother might have been planning something. As you know at that time, I was your sensei. Since it would be easiest for me to keep an eye on you, I was given the mission of keeping you and your family safe. Tonight, however, I failed."

Sasuke couldn't help but feel let down by Sakura. "This was the first mission I have ever failed. I'm sorry for my incompetence, Uchiha-sama."

So that was why she couldn't stare him in the eye. She failed him and felt that she had no right to look Sasuke to do so. "You haven't completely failed your mission. I am still alive."

Sakura seemed to lighten up a little. "You're right. You're still around. I can't let you die then. I, Haruno Sakura, vow that I will not fail my mission, that you will live no matter the cost." She said this while looking him in the eye. She cracked a warm smile. "Please, Uchiha-sama, get some rest. We can do some more planning in the morning."

Giving a small smile, Sasuke closed his eyes and let sleep engulf him.

**_The Next Day_**

Uchiha Sasuke woke up with dried tear streaks down his face. He had dreamt of his family members dying over and over again in his head. To say the least, it was horrible. Sitting up, he quickly wiped away the crusted remains. He had to make himself seem unbreakable. He had to be invincible, both inside and out. He had to be able to hide every single thing that might make him look weak. To him it was of utmost impor-

"I see that you're awake, Uchiha-sama." Sasuke quickly whirled around. There sat Sakura, a gentle look on her face. She drew her legs into a cross-legged position. "You were crying in your sleep, Uchiha-sama. Is something bothering you?"

And there goes the ego. "I'm… I'm fine," Sasuke said being sure to wipe away any more debris on his face.

Sakura, however, saw through his defense. "There is no one else around. You can confide your pains with me, Uchiha-sama. I will never tell another person." She reached out and patted him on the back. "You can tell me anything you want, and no one else will know."

"…Maybe next time. Besides, we still have to come up with a plan, Haruno-dono," Sasuke coolly responded.

"Ah, yes, your plan. Well, last night when you were sleeping, I did some thinking. Right now, we do not have any money and we lack strength, so an attack on Konoha Keep in our current situation is useless."

"I figured that out a while ago, Haruno-dono. Get to the point."

"Also, we can't just march into Konoha with a bunch of mercenaries. We'd stick out like a sore thumb. I'm thinking that we can travel around and get some help from other countries and maybe some nobles and then sneak in as travelers."

"How are we going to convince them that I didn't kill my family?"

"That's my job. I can tell them about my role as the family bodyguard and we can hopefully persuade them to lend us some forces and perhaps some funds as well. When I started this mission, I was given a document that I was to keep with me at all times," she pulled out a white sheet of paper that was signed by the head of the Haruno Clan, stating that Sakura was given this mission.

Sasuke bit his lip before agreeing. "But how are we going to keep ourselves from being found? And what about my training?"

"You know…" Sakura mused on for a while before cracking a dangerous smile. To Sasuke, at least. "I hadn't thought of that yet. But once you put those two together…" All of a sudden, there was that sudden personality switch, "Yes, that will work."

Sasuke doubted that he would like where this is going.

"You can call me Sakura-sensei and I'll call you Sasuke-kun! It's the perfect way to travel undetected without being suspicious! Also, to help make sure we don't get caught, we'll both maintain a Henge! It's perfect! Whenever we're in a town, we'll maintain the Henge and when we're out of town, we'll travel and train and whatnot!"

Sasuke cracked a frown. "You are _not_ going to call me Sasuke-kun, Haruno-dono."

"You _will_ call me Sakura-sensei and I _will_ call you Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke slowly began to back away from the sitting woman. "From now on, consider whatever we do as training." Sakura took out her wallet and examined the contents, "Oh, and we're going to have to get some new clothes. We can't go parading around with this kind of clothing. We'll stand out too much. And we can't always travel around with a Henge." Standing up, she took of her Haruno crest and handed it to Sasuke.

"Haru-, I mean Sakura-sensei, why are you giving me this?" Sasuke asked.

"Just hold onto it, Sasuke-kun," Sakura quickly put her hands into a seal. "Henge!" a small poof was heard and Sakura was engulfed in white smoke. As it cleared, Sakura revealed herself as what looked like a twenty year-old woman who was just a traveling swordswoman (or in her case, kunoichi). She was dressed in tight blue jeans with a belt and a black spaghetti strap top that happened to be show just enough of her curves while revealing her arms. Her hair was now a hazel brown and her sword was carefully tied to her belt on her left side. Her face was still the same though. Reaching out with her hands, she grabbed back her crest and stored it in her pocket. "You're turn, Sasuke-kun!"

"… You do know that I hate that name, right?"

"Of course I know, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke sighed before handing over his crest and performing a Henge himself. As the smoke cleared, he was wearing loose black pants that still allowed maximum movement with a white T-shirt that showed off his toned chest. His sword was tied to the belt loop on his left side. His face was no different than before. Sakura handed back his crest and Sasuke put it into his pocket.

"Now let's go, Sasuke-kun! If I'm right, the nearest village is about a mile," Sakura pointed south, "that way. A noble family also lives there, so hopefully we can talk to them."

Sasuke conceded and followed his teacher, "Hai, Sakura-sensei."

And so, the pair traveled to the nearest town. As they approached it, they encountered a sign, which read "Hyuuga City."

"Ha! I was right! This is where the Hyuuga nobles live. I've heard that they're the most influential of the nobles. If we can persuade them, then we'll have a higher chance of survival. But first," Sakura quickly took out her wallet, "we need to go shopping. Come on, Sasuke-kun!" she quickly grabbed his arm and headed for the closest clothing shop.

As they hurriedly walked down the streets, many of the townsfolk looked at them. This was a rare site in the city especially since they were a pair of swordsmen, or in their case, shinobis (and both of them were the opposite gender) and the townspeople couldn't help but smile at Sakura's antics. Sasuke couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Finally, they arrived at a store. Sasuke read out the store's name.

"'Shinobi, Kunoichi, and Beyond'? Are you sure that this is the right place to look for clothing, Sakura-sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course, Sasuke-kun! We'll find everything we'll need here!" she quickly dragged him in. After an hour, the pair stepped out of the store with a backpack on each of their shoulders. They had bought several sets of clothes, all which looked very much like what they wore right now, a tool pouch filled with kunais and shuriken, some rations for their trip, and some food pills.

In Sasuke's backpack, however, he had managed to put his coronation armor in there. That backpack was able to hold a lot of stuff. Perhaps it was jutsu-enhanced. Either way, when Sasuke hid his coronation armor, he put on the clothes that he just bought inside the store, thus no longer needing the Henge to change his clothing.

Sasuke looked around and happened to see some new posters on the electrical poles. He walked over to one and swore. They were wanted posters with pictures depicting both Sasuke and Sakura. He tore it off and walked back to his 'teacher.'

"Sakura-sensei," he whispered, "look!" he handed her the poster. She examined it and put on a frown.

"This doesn't look anything like me at all…"

"Sakura-sensei!" Sasuke almost burst out. "We need to keep a low profile!"

"I know." She grasped his hand and began to drag him through the streets once more.

"Sakura-sensei, how is this keeping a low profile?"

"Just trust me, Sasuke-kun!" she whispered quietly. There was a definite cheer in her voice though. Sasuke then felt what seemed to be a chakra source, two to be exact.

"Sakura-sensei, someone's following us…"

"I know, Sasuke-kun." She then dragged him into a bushy area.

"Sakura-sensei, what are we doing here?" he stared as Sakura removed her backpack and hastily dropped it on the ground. She untied her sword and hid it next to her backpack.

"Take off your backpack and sword, Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered.

"I don't see how this is going to help us."

"Just do it!" he quickly shrugged off his backpack and sword and placed it next to hers.

"Now what, Sakura-sensei?"

"Forgive me for this," before Sasuke was able to react, Sakura had kicked out his feet from beneath him, causing him to land on his back. She quickly straddled him. As he opened his mouth to complain, Sakura swooped down, closed her eyes, kissed him and slipped her tongue in. She then began to vigorously run her fingers through his hair.

Sasuke was bewildered. Here he was in a lip lock with his sensei that also had her tongue swirling around inside his mouth. And he could taste her mouth. It faintly reminded him of cherries.

Of course, being twenty-one that meant that he was at his peak of youth. He couldn't help but get an erection.

Sakura's brown hair was long enough to cover his face from seeing anything else besides her closed eyes. However, his ears were able to pick up the surrounding noises. He heard a rustle from the bush they were hiding behind in.

"Never mind, it's not them," one man said. "Sasuke is traveling with a Haruno. Obviously, she isn't one." Judging from the noise, he had left. Then, another voice came up from another man.

"Damn, look at that slut go!" the second man commented on Sakura's passionate kissing. "It's too bad that we can't get a girl like that, right? Lucky bastard…" the voice was fading, meaning that he was going away.

"Yeah. I guess we're just not chick magnet material," man number one said.

"What are you talking about? We've got the muscle, the looks, the brains, the money, and we're shinobis! They should be all over us like flies! I bet it's because we're just wanderers. We don't have a place to stay, and we just keep traveling."

"Well maybe they'd actually date us if you stop calling them sluts and bitches."

"Hey! I do not call them-" and that was all he could make from the conversation, because now Sakura's actions were beginning to take a toll on him causing new sensations to travel up to his brain. He couldn't help but moan into her mouth. That was until she suddenly stopped and stood up.

Sasuke was in a daze. Never had he been kissed like that.

Then again, he had never been kissed. Slowly getting up, he was in a bit of a shocked state.

"Sorry about that, Sasuke-kun, but we had to do that to get them off of our trail," Sakura said. When she looked at his face, he looked like he was pouting.

Sasuke, after hearing that dreaded name, snapped back to his senses. "And what am I supposed to consider what we did, Sakura-sensei?"

She smiled a cheery smile before picking up her backpack and sword, "Simple. Consider what we did as training."

'_Some training that was,' _Sasuke thought.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun! We need to get to the Hyuuga Manor."

"Where is it, though?" Sasuke asked in a peeved manner.

"Right over there, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura pointed at a tall building towards the center of town. Sasuke sighed.

This day was really starting to take its toll on him. And it wasn't even (from the information on a clock) past eleven thirty yet! Whenever Sakura was in her 'sensei' mode, Sasuke felt that she was annoying as hell. But now, she would be annoying as hell for who knows how long. He picked up his sword and backpack in a lackluster manner. As he did so, his eye caught onto a pebble. It was round, small, and hard, but it had no worries, no cares, nothing to bother it. It was so carefree, as if it could just lounge around all day and only have to worry about the end of the world, which might come in around ten thousand years.

It was mocking him. The fact that it was so carefree gave Sasuke reason to be angry at it. But he could do one thing. He could kick the pebble. Yes, then it wouldn't be laughing anymore. Then again, when did pebbles ever laugh? Sasuke raised his right foot and-

"Come on, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura quickly grabbed his wrist and began to drag him to the Hyuuga Manor and away from the undisturbed pebble.

Sasuke could hear the little rock laughing at him as he was dragged towards the Hyuuga Manor. As they neared the manor, Sakura finally let go of his hand and suddenly seemed to put up a dignified air around her. Her stride seemed more mature.

If Sasuke was lucky, she had gone through another one of her flawless personality changes. Again. As they neared the gates, they noticed two guards whose eyes were of pale lavender. The guards seemed to have been expecting them before they even arrived. The guards quickly stepped in front of the gates and faced them.

"You cannot pass," one of them flatly said. Sakura quickly turned to Sasuke.

"Uchiha-sama, please take out your crest."

Yes! Something was finally going right! Indeed, Sakura had had one of her drastic personality changes and was no longer annoying (to him at least). "Hai, Sakura-sensei."

"Haruno-dono, please."

"Er… right…" Sasuke quickly took his crest out from his right pants pocket and showed it to the two guards. Then Sakura bowed.

"We request to see Hyuuga Hiashi-sama. We wish to talk to him."

"How do we know that you're not going to kill us?" the second guard asked. Obviously, they had heard of what happened at Konoha Keep. Sakura quickly produced the document.

"Here, read this," Sakura said. "If that doesn't prove our point, then nothing will."

The two guards read the document and looked at each other before nodding and opening the gates. As Sakura and Sasuke stepped in, it closed ominously behind them. Now that they were finally in front of it, the Hyuuga Manor was huge. It reminded Sasuke greatly of Konoha Keep, except that it had more wood-based structure than stone-based ones. They were on a straight path that led them to the main entrance into the Manor.

Now Sasuke, since he was only given a rushed job of teaching for becoming a king, did not know very much about politics. So, now that Sakura was no longer in her annoying mode, he turned to ask her. "Haruno-dono, who exactly are the Hyuugas?"

Sakura began to talk without turning to him. "The Hyuugas are the top noble family of Konoha. They are tied with the Harunos for the second most powerful position in Konoha. The reason why they are so powerful is because of their bloodline, the Byakuugan. It has nearly 360-degree vision and can see through walls. However, it is most deadly because it can see Tenketsu points, allowing the Hyuugas to attack it directly and causing internal damage."

By the time Sakura finished, they were inside the building. "I can finally release this Henge now." A poof of smoke covered her and then revealed her as when she first left Konoha Keep: in a white kimono and with pink hair and green eyes. She turned to Sasuke. "You may want to change into your coronation armor. I doubt that it is respectable to greet a noble in your current attire."

Sasuke simply said "Hn" and walked off to the nearest bathroom that he could find. He had to ask around a bit, but he managed to find one. Of course, he felt rather uncomfortable. The Hyuugas could simply turn on their Byakuugan and, if what Sakura said was true, they might just peak on him changing. But he gritted his teeth and did it. It still had the dried blood from when Itachi flung his families blood onto him. When he stepped outside, Sakura was waiting for him, a long with a Hyuuga escort, who was dressed in a plain black kimono.

"Come on, Uchiha-sama. It's not a wise decision to keep a noble waiting."

"I will be your escort to the Master's room," the woman said. "Please follow me." And they began to walk. On their way there, Sasuke couldn't help but wonder how Sakura was able to flawlessly change from one personality to another. It was constantly driving him insane. So insane that he had to ask her.

"Haruno-dono, forgive me for asking this but…" He felt rather uncomfortable asking, but he had to know.

"Yes, Uchiha-sama?"

"Do you have Multiple Personality Disorder?"

Sakura was a bit taken back, "E-Excuse me?"

Sasuke scratched the back of his head, "Well, um, you seem to be able to change personalities seamlessly."

"For your information, Uchiha-sama, I do not have Multiple Personality Disorder," Sakura said rather sternly. Nothing more was said for the rest of the walk. When they finally arrived, the escort opened the door for them and stepped aside for the pair to enter. When Sasuke and Sakura entered, she bowed low and closed the door. The room had several cushions and a tatami floor. They turned to face the head of the Hyuuga Clan, dressed in a blue-blackish kimono.

Sakura lightly nudged Sasuke in the ribs. "Leave this to me."

Hiashi bowed to them. "The guards at the front door told me that you two had arrived. What brings the prince and his bodyguard to the Hyuuga Manor?"

Sakura and Sasuke bowed back. "We have a request for you."

Hiashi signaled the mats. "Please, make yourself comfortable."

Sakura and Sasuke kneeled down after Hiashi did. "How did you know that I am Uchiha-sama's bodyguard?"

"Before you were given your mission to protect the Uchiha family and, most importantly, the prince, both the Harunos and the Hyuugas met together to have a secret meeting, with no other noble families involved. Since we were of equal power, we both saw this as dangerous. So the Harunos put the job of protecting the prince in your hands. However, in the situation that Uchiha Itachi did do something drastic, the prince was to receive additional protection from the Hyuuga Clan."

"How come I don't know this?" Sasuke asked.

"It was for your own safety. In fact, I doubt that any of the Uchihas knew," Hiashi said.

"So you already knew?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. In fact, I have a document to prove it," Hiashi withdrew the document from inside his kimono and handed it to Sakura. It said the same thing as her document, except that it had Hiashi's signature on it instead. "Take it. I have a feeling that you'll need it more than I do. If I'm right, Haruno-dono, you also have a document like this, right?" Sakura nodded. "Excellent. You will need both of them to prove Uchiha-sama's innocence."

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama," Sakura replied. "So who will you send with us?"

"Unfortunately, we cannot give you much. Uchiha Sasuke simply cannot suddenly have a troop of Hyuuga shinobis marching on to take Konoha Keep. If we do that, it would leave this city defenseless."

"I see," Sakura said. This looks like it would be harder than she thought it would.

"So, I will be giving you the heir of the Hyuuga clan and her body guard."

"Heir? Are sure that is safe, Hiashi-sama?" Sakura asked.

"In order to become the Head of the Hyuuga Clan, the heir usually has to undergo a trial of sorts. However, my daughter is not given a single drop of respect because she lacks self-confidence and rarely makes her own decisions. We cannot have a leader like that. So, I will make her journey with you the trial instead."

"But if she lacks the ability, then how will she be able to protect Uchiha-sama?" Sakura blurted out.

"She does not lack ability, but rather self-confidence in them. If she believes in herself, she can do miracles. She also lacks experience in the outside world, which is why I'm sending her with you. Also, her bodyguard, Neji, is the best in the clan. If she fails, he will undoubtedly make up for it."

"I see, Hiashi-sama."

"Just curious, but how do you intend to accomplish the goal of defeating Itachi?" Hiashi asked.

"We intend to first travel to the as many nobles and possibly other kingdoms as well to try and gather enough forces before attempting to take Konoha Keep."

"I see. Take a day to rest here. You can set out tomorrow for your journey. An escort will take you to your rooms. And Uchiha-sama, you can change out of your coronation armor and we'll wash the blood out for you. Seeing as it is still around noon, we will provide lunch for you, which we shall send to your rooms. Afterwards, you may explore the city a bit more before dinner. Of course, I feel that you may want to wash up first." Sasuke nodded.

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama." Sakura stood up and bowed; Sasuke did likewise. The turned around and opened the door, revealing two more escorts.

"Haruno-dono, please come with me. I will lead you to where you will be staying tonight." The escort turned around and began to walk away. Sakura turned to face Sasuke.

"Goodnight, Uchiha-sama," she said while bowing before briskly following her escort. She left before he could say goodnight to her.

"Well, Uchiha-sama, I guess I will lead you to your room," the escort began to walk and Sasuke followed. They went through winding hallways before ending up at a door.

"Here is a guest room for you. Inside there is a complete bathroom as well as a king-size bed. I believe this is the best out of the entire ten guest rooms. Leave your coronation armor outside and we can wash it up for you later," the escort bowed and began to walk away.

Sasuke entered the room and was almost awed by it. It was almost as large as his room. He quickly set his backpack down and removed his sword, placing it next to the backpack as well. Removing his coronation armor, he left it outside of his door and stripped away the rest of his clothing before entering the bathroom. He quickly jumped into the shower stall and turned on the hot water.

He planned on taking a long shower. Yes, he definitely deserved it, having to have dealt with Sakura in her annoying (AKA sensei) mode. In his opinion, the only good thing about her in that mode was that she was a good kisser.


	3. Always a First Time for Everything

An overdue update. But it's long, so thats okay! Anyway, it took me so long to update this story because I was busy finishing Encyclopedia Ninja. I really did not expect it to break 1000 reviews, but wow! Anyway, fighting against the rules, response time!

Yami no Katon Karura: I am a guy. I'm pretty sure I stated that in my profile...

Anime Lance: Yes, I sure hope so.

Bandit666: If you think Sakura's OOC, wait until you see the Naruto I have planned for this story. It will blow your mind. BLOW YOUR MIND! I had to change him so he can fit the story line as well as add some depth into the plot.

Anyway, I plan on releasing another fic.But that will take some time, so its okay!

Also, I remember that one of my reviewers for one of my Naruto stories wanted a SakuSasu lemon. I might work one into this fic, but I'm not too sure.

I do not own Naruto or Fire Emblem.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter 3: Always a First Time for Everything 

It was a wonderful shower. There was no way that Sasuke could deny the fact. He felt cleaner than he had in days. As he stepped out of the shower stall, he began to dry himself off. Afterwards, he turned on the ventilation, which was rather loud, to remove the steam in the bathroom. Walking over to the mirror, he began his routine of making himself look nice.

Normally, that would consist of doing his hair, making sure he looked all right, and putting on his clothes. However, instead of making himself look nice, he was focused on the cut on his cheek. A scab had formed over the cut. Sasuke stared at it in disgust. It reminded him all too much of his brother. He growled. Then he heard a knock on his room door.

"Uchiha-sama, are you there?" it was his bodyguard/teacher.

"Yes, just… give me a moment," Sasuke half-heartedly said. He was too self absorbed on the scar on his cheek. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he quickly made sure that he looked presentable and tossed on a fresh set of clothes that he bought from the store. Walking out of the bathroom with his hair still damp, he opened the door.

"Yes, Haruno-dono? Is there something you want?" He tried to sound as nice as possible. She was also dressed in the clothes that she bought from the store. Her crest was pinned on the sleeve of her shirt.

"I was thinking that we could perhaps go out into the village," she humbly suggested.

"Why? Wouldn't it just put us into even more danger of being found?" Sasuke retorted.

"Well, since you plan to overthrow your brother and become king, it would be wise to see how your country works, firsthand. You could think of it as a… as a…" she suddenly seemed to be at a loss of words.

Sasuke, however, knew that he was in deep trouble. He looked at her eyes. They seemed glazed over, almost as if struck by an epiphany. He quickly tried to back away, but, thankfully, he wouldn't have to.

"I know! We could bring the two Hyuugas that will be accompanying us. You know, get to know them a little better before setting off," she smiled at her own idea. Sasuke felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. For a moment, he was afraid that she would go into her sensei mode and start acting like a child. "So…" she trailed off and regained her composition, "May we do so, Uchiha-sama?"

"I don't see why we shouldn't. Let's talk with Hiashi-sama first though."

Sakura bowed. "Of course, Uchiha-sama. Should we leave now?" Unfortunately, Sakura's shirt was a bit loose around the neck and gave him a clean view down her shirt. Immediately, Sasuke looked away with a small blush on his face, ashamed of his actions. Sure, she would never know, but the feeling still lingered with him. He was supposed to be a prince and soon a king. He couldn't appear lewd, especially in front of his bodyguard.

"Uchiha-sama? Are you all right? You seem a bit flustered," Sakura asked.

"Y-Yes, I'm alright," Sasuke looked up towards his still damp hair. Then he looked back at Sakura. "Just let me dry my hair and get my crest and we can meet with Hiashi-sama." He closed the door. He could not let that happen again. No way. Quickly drying his hair, he attached the Chidori to his belt and pinned his crest proudly on his shirt before he opened the door.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Haruno-dono."

"It's okay, Uchiha-sama," Sakura looked over at his crest. "Uchiha-sama, it may be wise to put your crest in your pocket for now." Sasuke agreed before putting it away.

Suddenly, Sasuke had a question. "Haruno-dono…" Sasuke looked around at the long corridors. "Do you know your way around here?"

She put on a gentle smile. "Don't worry, Uchiha-sama. After I took a shower, I walked around this place. I know my way around here."

While Sasuke did his best to not envision her taking a shower, he came to the conclusion that either A) she took very fast showers and was able to walk around the Hyuuga mansion once to memorize the place or B) he spent too much time taking one.

"I actually went through the path from our rooms to the Main Roomseveral times already," Sakura added.

Sasuke had a feeling that it was the latter rather than the former. It wasn't his fault that he enjoyed taking long showers, right?

"Please forgive me if I am stepping out of place but… I really think that you should stop taking such long showers. I highly doubt that we will be able to have such a luxury during our… trip," Sakura said.

Maybe it was his fault.

"I'll take it into consideration," Sasuke said coolly. Looking out of the edge of his eye, he saw that Sakura seemed a bit… dejected. He felt compelled to say something.

"In other words, I'll try, Haruno-dono," Sasuke said to her. She let her lips curl into a small smile. The rest of the walk was done in a comfortable silence. They approached the main chambers. They opened the doors and walked in before humbly bowing before Hiashi.

"Is there something you wish for, Uchiha-sama?" Hiashi-asked.

"I was hoping that we could take the heir and her bodyguard with us into the city. Perhaps get to know them a bit before we embark on our journey," Sasuke asked. Hiashi thought for a moment before answering them.

"I don't see why not." Hiashi called over a young servant, "Bring me my heir and her bodyguard." The servant gave a small bow before disappearing through a door. Shortly after, the servant returned with the pair in tow.

"You called, Hiashi-sama?" Neji asked. He was very weary of the pair in the throne room. From the news he had heard, Sasuke had killed his entire family save his brother.

"You and Hinata are to join Sasuke in his mission to defeat his brother and reclaim the throne," Hiashi answered.

"Help them?" Neji raised an eyebrow. "If I'm not mistaken, aren't they wanted criminals?"

"Thankfully, you are Neji," Sakura answered. She pulled out the two documents. "These documents prove our innocence." She gave them to Neji who silently read it before handing it back.

"Very well, we shall accompany you on your journey then. Now if you would excuse me, I would like to return to my room."

Sasuke had a feeling that Neji wasn't a very social person. Sure, he wasn't shy of everyone, but he seemed to push everyone away. However, he dressed in a very fashionable manner: he had his hair down to the middle of his back where he tied it off; his shirt and pants were of a design he had never seen before. He pinned his crest over his heart, as was standard in the world. The Hyuuga crest was a white circle, representing the Byakuugan. Perhaps he wasn't as unsociable as he thought. Sasuke turned his eyes to the heir. As soon as she noticed that he was looking at her, she almost seemed to shrink a bit. Sasuke could definitely see why Hiashi wanted her to go on this trip. She was too modest. She even dressed modestly, wearing a large beige sweater and pants that had no logo, not even the Hyuuga family sign. She wore her crest over her heart as well.

"Neji, I did not excuse you from my presence," Neji turned around to face his uncle, Hiashi. "These two are your travel mates and have decided that, to get better acquainted, they would go out into the city with you two. Show them around."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama," Neji bowed.

"Now you are excused," Hiashi bowed back as the group of four retreated from the room. "Hinata, please stay." His daughter stopped walking and turned around as the other three left the room. Hiashi walked over and gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I know that this is rather sudden, especially being assigned as an accomplice for the prince. But you must stay strong."

"I-I know, tou-san, but… I-I…"

"You're just scared?" Hiashi finished for her. She nodded, ashamed of revealing her weakness.

"Do not worry. Every head of the Hyuuga household has gone on a journey to prove themselves to the Hyuuga clan. This is yours," Hiashi held his daughter close to him in a hug. "If that cannot help you, then do this not for the clan, but for your mother." He felt Hinata stiffen under his arms.

"H-Hai, tou-san," she mumbled before she bowed and turned to leave. When she left the room, a tiny poof was heard.

"That was the most wonderful piece of bullshit I have ever heard, Hiashi."

"I will do whatever it takes for my daughter to become great, Hizashi. I don't want to see her like this."

"I know that, but honestly, the whole journey thing was just so lame."

"I can see why you didn't become the head of the clan."

"As if I'd wanted to be the head of the clan."

"Well you didn't do a perfect job of raising Neji either."

"Hey! If I wasn't so-"

* * *

The group of four stepped out of the Hyuuga Manor and into the sunlight. Sakura immediately did a Henge, looking exactly the same except that her hair was brown instead of pink. 

"So what do you have in mind, Haruno-dono?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, Uchiha-sama, I'm not the one in charge of leading us around the town. These two are," Sakura answered, gesturing towards the two Hyuugas. She turned towards them, "So do you have anything planned for today?"

"Nothing really. I was supposed to be training today," Neji answered. Hinata meekly nodded in agreement.

'_Oh god no…'_ Sasuke thought. _'She did not say training…'_ he fearfully looked at Sakura. There was no hope for Sasuke. She had already changed.

"Oh my god, I forgot about your training, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled out. The two Hyuugas were taken back by the sudden outburst before staring at the pair. They were asked to help his bodyguard protect her prince. Her being a teacher and him being a student was not part of the contract. Where had the formal Sakura gone? "Come on, Sasuke-kun," she grabbed his wrist, "we have to continue your-" she was cut off by a grumble from her stomach.

She retracted her hand and placed it over her stomach. She gave off an embarrassed blush. "I guess we should have lunch first…" she trailed off. She turned to the Hyuugas once more "Do you know anywhere good to eat?"

"Well, there is a place that I usually go to take my breaks at but…" Neji trailed off and looked at his cousin.

"But…?" Sakura asked.

"It's a bar. I'm not too sure if I should bring the prince and the heir to such a place."

"Oh that's fine!" Sakura ecstatically said. "He's my student, so there's no problem. So where is this bar?" Sasuke felt mortified beyond belief.

Neji just sighed and led the way. He turned to Hinata. "I really don't think we should tell Hiashi-sama about this…"

"Y-Yeah…"

Eventually, they arrived at the bar. It turned out to be a rather classy one. There were no rambling drunks and the place was fairly clean. They had a regular bar along with some booths and tables for eating. It also had some pool tables that could be used for free. They sat themselves down in a booth with some menus. However, Neji wasn't feeling very hungry. He eyed the pool tables.

"I'll be right back," Neji said, standing up and walking over to the pool tables. He grabbed a pool stick before grabbing the triangle and set the balls in formation. Taking the white cue ball, he placed in the very center and took his time aiming. Then, when he felt it was right, he struck the cue ball and sent it straight at the triangle, breaking it apart.

He took a look back at the group. They were chatting among themselves. Even Hinata was brave enough to get in a few sentences. Returning to his game, he hit each ball into a pocket with finesse until there was only the eight ball left. Focusing only on the ball, he took his aim. _'Eight ball, corner pocket…'_ he thought to himself before hitting the cue ball. It was headed straight for the black ball, a perfect shot.

However, a feminine hand reached down and stopped the cue before it hit the eight ball. He looked up in annoyance. The woman who had stopped his shot had brown hair and was a bit shorter than him and looked about his age. She had brown eyes that matched her hair that was held up in two buns. Her looked soft and she wore a pink Chinese-style shirt with pants that matched her eyes. "You're pretty good. Perhaps you'd like to play a match with me?" her voice was playful, almost taunting.

Hyuuga Neji wasn't one to step down from a match, whether it was training or pool. "…Best out of three?" he asked.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," unbeknownst to Neji, many of the patrons at the bar now had their eyes on the pair the room had gone almost silent, except for those small groups that were too absorbed in their own conversation. Taking his time, he set up the balls before placing the cue ball down.

"Ladies first," Neji said.

"After you then," the woman answered. There was a small chuckle from the crowd. Of course, Neji paid no attention.

"So be it." Taking aim, he let the cue ball fly and break the triangle. A striped ball immediately fell into a corner pocket. _'Stripes then,'_ Neji thought as he took aim once more. With each hit, Neji was able to knock a stripe ball into a pocket. Now there was only one stripe left.

Taking his time, he hit the cue ball towards his stripe. It hit it and sent the ball towards a center pocket, but the ball bounced off the edge.

"Tch," Neji scoffed. "Your turn."

The woman needed no further prompting. She quickly took aim at one of her balls and let her pool stick fly, hitting the cue ball and hitting the ball into a pocket. With just as much skill as Neji, she pocketed each of her balls until there was only the eight ball and Neji's stripe ball left. However, Neji was smiling. The eight ball was blocked directly by his striped ball.

"Eight ball, corner pocket," the woman said, surprising Neji. There was no way that she could make the shot. It looked impossible to him. The woman just smirked. Taking aim, she hit the cue ball aimed at the side of Neji's ball.

To Neji's astonishment, the cue ball did not travel in a straight line, but in an arc, curving around his ball and hitting the eight ball, sending it into the designated pocket.

He cocked an eyebrow.

"Well don't just stand there. Get the next game ready," the woman said. Taking the balls out of the pockets, he set them in a triangle and set the cue ball in place. He got ready to break when the woman put her hand on his shoulder.

"You broke last time. It's my turn." Once again, the crowd gave off a chuckle. She took his place and she quickly broke the triangle. A solid ball went into the side pocket. She then took her place by the cue ball and prepared to hit again.

However, this time she put the pool stick behind her back before aiming. She leaned back and almost threw out her chest at him. Neji watched as she knocked in solid. She walked over to the cue ball and then, instead putting it behind her back like last time, she put her foot on the table before aiming under her leg. She hit another solid in. The process continued with the strange woman aiming at the cue ball in a different yet subtly seductive manner. She even arched backwards and took aim upside down, almost asking him to gaze at her.

But why was she doing all this? It made no sense at all to Neji. Through all her strange movements, he was only able to come up with one thing.

She was damn good at pool.

"Looks like I win," the young woman said to Neji as the eight ball went into a side pocket. Although he didn't show it, he felt his ego drop to the floor. She had trounced him in a game of pool. Twice.

"So what do you get from winning? Bragging rights?" Neji asked.

She scoffed. "You wouldn't understand the pleasure that I take in my pool games."

Neji had opened his mouth to question what she meant by that when a man had appeared by the doorway. "Everyone, hide!" he frantically yelled. "It's Mizuki's Bandits!" Immediately, everyone tried to leave the bar by any means necessary. The bartender ran upstairs and locked the door. Within thirty seconds, only Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, Hinata, and the mysterious woman remained.

"Mizuki's Bandits?" Sasuke asked. "Who are they?" he turned to Neji.

"They're nomadic brigands. They travel around and loot towns for money, supplies, and women," Neji answered. He turned his eye onto his cousin.

"The plan is simple then," Sakura said, no longer showing her childish manners. "We go and stop them."

"That's not all though," the mysterious lady said. Her voice had gone cold, no longer conveying a playful tone. "They're also low-rank Missing Nins."

"How can they be shinobis? Where would they have received the training?" Sasuke asked.

"Apparently," the lady began, "the founder was a Missing Nin. First, he rounded up many low-ranking criminals and trained them in the shinobi arts. Then, he began to recruit the average person. Those who joined him trained to become shinobis. Therefore, anyone who is a Mizuki Bandit is considered to be a Missing Nin. The nomads themselves practically make up a city. They have families, people who specialize in medicine, etc."

"S-So we're dealing with M-Missing Nins…" Hinata wearily said. Neji turned to face the young enigmatic lady.

"You seem to know quite a bit about these bandits. Who are you?" Neji asked.

"My name is Tenten."

"No surname?" Sakura asked.

"I don't have one. The only thing I remember when I was young was playing pool." At this point, Sasuke intervened.

"We have a bigger problem than trying to figure out Tenten here," he said. "What are we going to do?"

"Same as before, Uchiha-sama." Sasuke thanked whoever was out there. Sakura had changed out of her sensei mode.

"So we're still going to stop them?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura changed out of her Henge, "Yes."

"But we can't reveal ourselves to the public, Haruno-dono."

"But we can't just let the people suffer either," she walked up to him. "Right now, you're viewed as a convict. However, if you can prove to your people that you aren't one, then you can win their favor. This is an opportunity for you. This is also your training for today." Sakura walked out the door. The rest of the group quickly followed after.

As they met outside the bar, Neji realized that Tenten was still with them. "Tenten, you should not be here. Please go and find somewhere safe to hide."

"I'm not as useless as you think I am," she said, tightly gripping her pool stick.

Neji raised an eyebrow, "You intend to use your pool stick?"

"You have a problem with that?"

Before Neji could answer, Sakura had already begun to give orders. "Neji, you and Tenten will go and try to help the people that are being attacked by bandits. Uchiha-sama, Hinata-sama and I will try to find and deal with the leader. Let's meet at the village square in an hour." Without another word, she sped off, followed by Sasuke and the Hyuuga heiress.

Tenten turned to Neji. "Aren't Uchiha-sama and Haruno-dono criminals?"

"No, they were framed," Neji said, leaving in the opposite direction as the prince. Tenten followed, saving any further questions for later. They hurried down the street, guided by Neji's Byakuugan. It looked like many of the houses were evacuated except for a few. The houses that did have people in them they warned. It went on like that at a fast pace. He was surprised that Tenten could keep up with him.

As they rounded a corner, Neji saw a figure and something that looked like a dog locked in combat with three bandits. Signaling towards Tenten, they headed towards the person. Quickly engaging them, the pair killed two of the bandits with ease, Neji fatally striking a Tenketsu point, Tenten breaking person's neck with a fast swing from her pool stick. The third one was surprised and diverted his attention to the two of them and left himself open for the man to kill him with a kunai. They each grabbed the crest, a skull and cross bone, from the fallen bandits before speaking to one another.

"Thanks for your help, but really, we could have handled them ourselves," the man spoke. He had black shaggy hair and red face paint beneath his eyes, forming a triangle towards the bottom of his face. He wore black pants and had a hooded sweater on with his crest, which was had the head of a powerful looking dog, pinned over his heart. However, Neji and Tenten stared at him.

"What do you mean by 'we?' Are there two of you?" Tenten asked.

The strange man let out chuckle, "It seems that I've forgotten to introduce ourselves. My name is Inuzuka Kiba and this," he pointed to the white dog, "is Akamaru." The white dog gave off a bark. It was a regular-sized, reaching only to the height of Kiba's knee, at max.

"It doesn't matter. Please head to somewhere safe," Neji said.

"Hey! I don't need protection. I'm a shinobi as well," he pointed to his crest. "In fact, I'm one of the best in the Inuzuka Clan."

"I've never heard of an Inuzuka Clan," Neji said.

"Well… I guess we are kind of secretive… But that doesn't matter. I can help you. Besides, safety in numbers, right?" Kiba said.

Neji simply nodded before turning around, "It's been about an hour already. Let's go to the square." Kiba and Tenten nodded and followed Neji to the square.

**_Meanwhile_**

After running for a while, the group stopped by a small cartshop.

"Uchiha-sama," Sakura said, "remember when I told you to put your crest in your pocket earlier today?" Sasuke nodded. "I want you to put it on. If you're going to win over your people, they need to know that it's you."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his crest and pinned it to his shirt.

"Also, in this battle, the enemy is out to kill us. I want both of you to aim for the kill," Sakura said.

Sasuke and Hinata swallowed. Hard.

"I know that you may have qualms with this, but it is either you or them. And seeing as you two are both rather important people, I hope for the latter," Sakura said. Slowly, she stiffened.

Sasuke watched as she drew out her sword. Out of wariness, he drew his Chidori. "How long have you been there?" Sakura asked.

"A while," a voice said. "So, the Uchiha Sasuke…" a poof was heard, "and a Haruno and a Hyuuga." The cartshop disappeared, in place of it a man. "Must be my lucky day. You two," the man indicated towards Sasuke and Sakura, "are worth a nice sum of money. As for you," he looked towards Hinata, who almost shrunk, "I wouldn't mind doing you…"

Hinata blushed. Luckily, Sakura came to her rescue. "You have no time to be thinking about that." Already the sharp end of her sword was poised beneath the man's neck. Sasuke barely saw her move, only her pink tresses. How long would it take for him to reach her level? Slowly, the man raised his hands.

"Why have you come here? Are you just on a raid?" Sakura asked in a harsh tone. "Or is there something you're after?"

"Just a raid," the man said. "But if there is something else we can get," the man quickly did a hand seal before raising it to the sky. "We'll take it!" Immediately, a black smoke rose from his hands, forming a visible pillar.

Sakura wasted no time in cutting the man's head off. Bending down, she grabbed his crest before looking towards the two of them. "It's a signalflare. Within moments, we'll be swarmed here. I'll keep an eye out for both of you. Consider this as your first battle. I expect you to be aiming to kill. And don't worry about crests; we'll pick them up later."

Sasuke and Hinata nodded. His sword drawn, he kept an eye out, watching all corners. Nothing.

He looked up.

They arrived faster than he thought. Tumbling out of the way, he saw three bandits, each armed with kunais, standing in his place. Thankfully, it looked like Hinata had gotten out of the way as well.

'_Kill to live,'_ thought Sasuke. Raising his Chidori, he charged at one, suddenly stopping to parry a knife attack. The technique was common knowledge among those who used the Haruno sword style: to initiate the opponent to attack and then parry and counter. Pushing the kunai away, he stabbed through the man who attacked him. Blood slowly flowed down the sword, staining its splendor with crimson.

'_Kill to prepare yourself,'_ thought Sasuke as he pulled his sword out and used the sharp side to deliver a horizontal cut across another man's chest. More blood fell on the ground.

'_Kill to kill Itachi!'_ There would be no more psyching up for battle. He knew what he had to do. Turning around, he saw the last man raise his kunai before plunging it down. Immediately, he started the Three Step Cut.

He parried.

He kicked.

He cut.

Sasuke watched as the man's head slowly fell forward, his blood mixing with the others. Time seemed to slow down as he turned around to survey the fight around him.

Hinata was handling herself well, despite her shy appearance, although she could do better. He watched as a man fell and did not rise from one of her attacks.

'_Kill to live.'_

'_Kill to aspire.'_

'_Kill to rule.'_

It was Hinata's mantra as she felled another man. She would have to become merciless if she wanted to survive. She refused to be looked over by the other clan members. Spinning around, she swallowed and struck another man down.

Their deaths weren't dramatic. It wasn't dragged out. No suffering, no pain, just falling before darkness. It almost sickened Hinata how each body just suddenly stopped moving, their eyes filled with surprise before death clouded their eyes. She looked away.

Using her Byakuugan, she tried to find where Sakura was. She could faintly see her fluttering pink hair, the only indication of her presence.

'_Kill to live.'_

'_Kill to protect.'_

'_Kill to fulfill.'_

A simple flash of her long pink hair was enough to indicate where she was. The sound of her blade piercing an enemy was extra. Looking around, she saw several men approaching Sasuke's back, who seemed to have spaced out during the fight and was staring at her. Flipping her sword, she dashed behind Sasuke and gave a horizontal swing, spilling the blood of all three onto the ground. They fell likewise on top of each other. She turned to Sasuke, who looked surprised to see her in front of him. "Uchiha-sama, please do not space off. We are in a battle here."

That was what the world saw.

This was how Sasuke interpreted what the world gave him.

Her hair was like cherry blossoms falling from a cherry tree on a windy day. Everywhere he looked, he could see flashes of pink. Whenever there was a slight pause in her movements where he could clearly see her, she was artistically poised, the positions seemingly to have come out of a piece of poetry. Every movement was fluid, fast, finessed.

Perfect.

He would have loved to enter battle, if just to see her move like that. Her bloodied sword cast a powerful aura around her, belied by her pink hair and graceful features. She stiffened before disappearing again. He saw a brief flutter of pink go by him and turned around to see her, gracefully poised once again. Her sword had pierced through the stomachs of three men.

They looked like chicken scratch writing compared to Sakura's movements. In the same amazing poetic fashion, she turned to him. "Uchiha-sama, please do not space off. We are in battle here."

Here ends Sasuke's interpretation.

"Right…" Sasuke told himself as she whisked away again. God, how he wished he had her skill. She was probably killing the enemies fearlessly. He was overly tense, almost jittery. But the fact that she was there fighting relaxed him. Preparing his sword, he got ready to fight once more.

He killed the next three bandits that crossed his path. As he turned to a fourth bandit, a figure stabbed him from the back with a kunai, killing him instantly. Sasuke suddenly put himself on the defensive. The hooded man raised his hands into the air, a gesture of peace. "Whoa, whoa, calm down there. I mean you no harm." The man threw the kunai, imbedding it in the chest of another bandit. "I came with these two," he pointed to Tenten and Neji, who were suddenly in battle before Sasuke could see them clearly. "My name is Inuzuka Kiba and this," he pointed to the dog next to him, "is Akamaru."

"I guess you came at the right time then," Sasuke answered, staring warily at the dog. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke."

"Wait, as in, _the_ Uchiha Sasuke? The one who killed his entire family?" Kiba cried out.

"It's a long story," Sakura said, appearing next to Sasuke and killing another man, and then disappearing almost instantaneously. She appeared next to Kiba now, striking down another bandit. "We'll inform you after this."

That was when they heard a scream and the bandits backed off, forming a line.

In front of them stood a bandit, his arm around a young girl's neck. Tenten, however was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't move, any of you five. If any of you even sneeze," he shook his arm a bit, jostling the young girl, "I'll kill her. Put down your weapons."

"What should we do?" Sasuke asked Sakura. It was his first day in a real confrontation. He hadn't expected it to get this dangerous.

"We do what we must in order to clear your name," Sakura answered. Slowly, she set her sword on the ground. Sasuke began to follow suit.

Suddenly, a crack sounded from the shadows. A white ball traveled in a straight line, colliding with the man's neck, snapping it. The dead man fell backward, the toddler falling safely over his chest. Seizing the opportunity, Sasuke, Neji, and Kiba aptly surrounded the little girl, shielding her from further harm.

But it was unnecessary as a red flare was shot up somewhere in the distance and the rest of the bandits retreated, flitting away as quickly as they had come. As the last bandit disappeared, they turned to face each other. Where had that white ball come from? And where had it gone?

Neji was reminded of how it vaguely looked like a cue ball. His answer was confirmed when Tenten stepped out of the shadows. She looked at Neji and smirked, "Still think I can't fight?" Activating his Byakuugan, he studied the cue ball. It was a sphere of chakra compressed and hardened. It didn't have much inside, but it seemed that, if enough force is used, it could break stone.

Or in this case, bone.

"How were you able to make this?" Neji asked. "It's difficult to mold chakra into a perfect sphere with a hard shell."

"Lots of practice," Tenten simply repied. Neji gave up on his pursuit, his attention on the little girl. He had no experience with children. He looked at Kiba. Kiba looked at Sasuke.

"Fine, I'll do it," Sasuke grumbled, walking to the little girl.

"Are you ok-"

"You have cweepy eyes," the girl cut in. Sasuke pretended that he did not hear her comment.

"How are you fee-"

"You'we cweepy eyes scawe me. I don't wanna talk to you…"

Sakura walked up, brushing Sasuke aside. "Let me take care of this, Uchiha-sama." She knelt down so that she was eye level with the toddler.

"Where's you're mom-" Sakura asked.

"You'we eyes awe pwetty."

"Thank you!" Sakura said in a cheery voice. "Do you know where your mommy is?" she asked. Almost on cue, a middle-aged woman came from the corner.

The little girl saw her and cried out "Mommy!" Running, she was scooped up by her mother.

"Thank god you're safe!"

"I'm safe because these people came!" the little girl pointed down the street, but no one was there.

"There's nobody there, though…" the mother said.

"But they wewe! There was this man with cweepy eyes and a woman with pink haiw and pwetty eyes. She called him U… U…"

"U who?" the mother said, looking back at her child.

"I think it was Uchiha-sama."

"U…chiha?" the mother looked down the street once more. Obviously puzzled, she walked away from the street and exited from where she came in.

On a rooftop, the six stood there, watching as the mother left the vicinity. After she left, they jumped down to the street, and walked over to the bodies of the bandits. Gathering the crests, Sakura walked over to Sasuke.

"Uchiha-sama," she asked.

"Yes, Haruno-dono?"

"Tenten and Kiba. They seem to be skilled shinobis. As you know, we simply cannot take back the throne with four people. How about we add these two to our numbers?"

"Sure. I'll talk to them in a moment then," Sasuke turned to walk away.

"Umm… Uchiha-sama?"

"Yes?" He turned back to her.

"I just want to commend you for fighting as well as you did today."

"It… It was nothing," Sasuke said, blushing a tiny bit.

"You did much better than me when I was in my first life-or-death battle. I almost fainted in my first real combat situation." She held out a crest to Sasuke. "Here, take this as proof of your first kill." Sasuke took it and eyed it carefully, noting skull and crossbones.

"You never forget your first kill," Sakura said.

He looked at Sakura who turned and walked away. She looked over her shoulder, "I took the ones Hinata and Neji had and I'll give the rest to Hiashi-sama to turn in for some money. No doubt we'll need it for our… trip." She began to walk away from him.

Sasuke looked down at the crest in his hand. "You never forget your first, huh?" he said to himself. Putting the crest along with his into his pocket, he walked to Tenten and Kiba. Kiba was looking a bit on edge with Sasuke there, knowing how he was a criminal, but Tenten was apathetic, seemingly interested in nothing.

"So… I assume that there is an explanation behind the… ah…" Kiba trailed off, "murders?"

"My brother did it," was Sasuke's answer. "He simply framed me for it."

"But the wounds," Tenten said. "They looked like they were made by the Chidori."

"I don't know how my brother did it, but he managed to get his sword to imitate the Chidori." Sasuke cleared his throat. "But I'm not here to talk about more important things. As you know, my current goal is to take back the throne." Damn. How to do this without sounding stupid? "However, we ar-"

"Just get to the point," Tenten said.

"We don't have enough people and since you two have are skilled, would you like to join us?" Sasuke honestly did not expect them to give a damn about him and his goal. But still, safety in numbers, right?

"Well… I'm kind of on the run myself… so why not?" Kiba said.

"Whom are you running from?" Sasuke asked.

"Ah…" Kiba gave an embarrassed blush. "I can't really tell you…"

"Anyway," Sasuke said, turning his attention to Tenten. "What about you?"

"I don't really care about your mission but…" for quick moment, her thought steered towards Neji and how he played pool. _'He's pretty good…'_ "I need a good pool partner. Everyone in this town is horrible at the game."

"So is that a yes?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay then. We're heading back to the Hyuuga Manor. I think you should come with us so you two can get some supplies before we leave."

With that, the group headed back to the Hyuuga manor.

**_Hyuuga Manor_**

It was busier than when they first got there in the afternoon. The people were rushing around. After the bandit attack, the Hyuuga shinobis were taken into account. They had to be debriefed, checked for injuries, etc.

Sasuke was just glad that Sakura was no longer in her 'sensei' mode and knew her way through the corridors to the main room where Hiashi was. Long showers weren't completely useless. As the group entered, Hiashi immediately stood up and walked over to them.

"Where is my daughter?" he said, fear lacing his words.

"I-I'm here," Hinata meagerly called out. "N-Neji-nii-san is here too…" She cautiously stepped out to face her father. Immediately, Hiashi sensed something different about her. He noticed that she was clenching something in her right hand. Tightly.

"Let me see your right hand," Hiashi said. Slowly, she raised and opened her hand, revealing the crests she had taken from the bandits. He looked up to see her looking straight into his eyes, lost and in need of guidance. Hiashi took them out of her hand before he turned to the rest of the group.

"Please excuse us. I want to talk to my daughter," Hiashi said. The group complied and waited outside the door that they entered from. As soon as the door closed, he immediately hugged Hinata. She began to cry.

"Just let it out, Hinata."

"I-It's so scary when… when they die…"

Hiashi said nothing while he patted her back.

"They just… T-They just…"

"They what?"

"T-They just d-drop!" Hinata finally sobbed. "T-They still look alive when they die!" Hinata's knees slowly gave out, and she would have crumpled to the floor had Hiashi not been holding her.

"The first one is always hard, Hinata."

"I-I… I feel like a m-monster… Tou-san…" She looked into his eyes. "I don't want to be like this…"

"Be like what?" Hiashi asked.

"I don't want to enjoy killing!" Hinata broke down again into sobs.

Hiashi firmly held her shoulders and stared into her eyes. "Hinata, you do not have to enjoy killing. These crests," Hiashi took her hand and placed the crests into her palm. Her face looked pained as if they seared and would leave a mark. "These crests represent your ability and discernment. You now have the power to take a life or spare it. Use your own judgment to determine who must live and who must die. This does not mean in any way that you must take pleasure in killing. I myself do not like it either, but our positions force us to kill."

Hinata's sobbing slowly began to subside.

"By taking a life, you have proven yourself as worthy of the Hyuuga name. I'm proud of you, and always will be, remember that." For the first time in a long time, Hinata saw her father give a genuine smile.

She had not seen it ever since her mother died.

"I will have a servant escort you to your room. There, I want you to rest. It will do you wonders, both mentally and physically." Hinata simply nodded weakly. She turned around to see a servant already waiting to take her to her room. She exited, her place in the main room filled in with Sasuke and his group.

"I must thank you all for protecting my daughter in such a time," Hiashi calmly said. "However, I see that you have brought in two…" Hiashi was at a loss for words.

"Recruits," Sakura finished for him.

"I see." Hiashi turned to the 'recruits.' "Who are you, if I may be so bold?"

Sasuke personally felt that Hiashi was overly polite, but kept his mouth shut.

"My name is Inuzuka Kiba and this," Kiba pointed to his dog, "is Akamaru."

"Inuzuka Kiba… aren't you on the run from… ah… I can't remember their names… them?" Hiashi asked.

"Eh… yeah…" Kiba sheepishly replied.

"Isn't it possible that you're putting my daughter in danger?"

"Oh don't worry about it," Kiba said nonchalantly, "they'll only aim at me."

'_Who is this group that wants Kiba dead?'_ Sasuke thought.

"I hope you're right. Now then," Hiashi turned to Tenten. "What of you? What's your name?"

"My name is Tenten." Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "I don't have a surname, having been an orphan."

"Any reason why you wish to travel with this group?"

"Your son is the only person in this town who plays a decent pool game. I'm traveling with this group because I need the challenge."

"I do not have a son. Neji is my nephew. But why pool?"

Tenten motioned towards her pool stick. "This pool stick serves as a Jo staff for me. I hand built it from the finest wood I could find here. But allow me to show you something." She drew out her hand and formed the white cue ball from her chakra. "It's my own personal way of fighting. I simply take aim and send the cue ball on its course. It'll bounce around a few times as well."

"Very well then. You two will be given a room here as 'bodyguards' for Uchiha-sama. Two servants are already waiting to bring you to your rooms, as well as food and drink. Now, please allow me to speak with Uchiha-sama and Haruno-dono." The two nodded before turning around. Again, servants had already appeared, ready to take them away. Kiba and Tenten exited the room, leaving only Sasuke and Sakura now.

"By the beginning of tomorrow, the news will get out, saying how you two were spotted in this city. For your safety, it may be wise to leave the country and ask for help from other kingdoms. You will need to set out in the early morning. North of here lies a forest that will take you to the Rock Kingdom. You should be able to get help there," Hiashi said.

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama," Sakura said. "I know that you have already given much to us but-," Hiashi cut her off.

"If you are wondering if we could give you some supplies, that is not a problem. Uchiha-sama's safety is highest priority right now, so we will do what we must. We will give you some food pills, rations, tents and sleeping bags,and kunais along with some exploding tags."

"Thank you again, Hiashi-sama, but I have one more favor. I want you to spread the fact that Uchiha Itachi killed the Uchihas. Hopefully, this will persuade some to think twice about attacking us," Sakura said.

"It will be done. Now, you should return to your rooms for food and rest. There is no doubt that you will need it tomorrow. Servants are ready to take you to your rooms. Sleep early, as you will be leaving early."

Low and behold, as the pair turned around, a pair of servants was already there to take them to their rooms. They followed the servants and when their paths branched ways, they bid each other goodnight before heading towards their rooms.

The first thing Sasuke did when he got to his room was taking another shower. He loved those showers. It felt good to just wash away the dirt and sweat from his body. But as he was taking pleasure in the hot water, he remembered Sakura's words about long showers. With a sigh, he turned off the nozzle as he stepped out to dry himself. Of all the people that had served him at some point in time, she was the only one who told him that his habit of taking long showers was detrimental.

Putting on a set of fresh clothes, he stepped out of the bathroom and put his dirty clothes outside his door. He saw a tray with hot steaming food. He took it inside and began to eat on at the table provided. He did not realized how hungry he was. When he finished, he placed the tray outside his door. Glancing at the clock, he then looked at the bed. It was only seven at night. He could sleep a bit later.

He began to pack. He made sure that he had his crest at his nightstand. As he began to pack his clothes, there was a knock at his door. Opening it, he found his pile of dirty clothes, already washed and dried.

They still felt warm. Packing it away, he stole a look at his clock once more. It was only seven thirty. _'Sleep early, as you will leave early.'_ Having done all he could, he prepared himself for sleep. As he climbed into his bed, he suddenly felt tired. His sword arm ached and his legs felt almost wobbly. Sinking into the bed, he could not forget the words that came from Sakura after the battle.

'_You never forget your first.'_

**_Next Morning_**

A knock on the door jolted Sasuke from his sleep. It was the first time that he was glad to be awakened.

He had the dream again

His pillow was damp, meaning that he cried once more in his sleep and that he cried until he woke up. Doing his best to wipe the crusted tears away, he walked and answered the door, opening it a crack and peering through.

"Uchiha-sama," it was Sakura, "please prepare to leave."

Sasuke rubbed his eyes a bit, "What time is it?" he said sleepily.

"Four in the morning," she replied apathetically.

"This early?" he sighed. "Alright, just let me get dressed." Sasuke began to close the door, but she called out his name again.

"Uchiha-sama."

"Yes?" Sasuke warily replied.

"You were crying in your sleep again, weren't you?"

There was only silence.

"You were, weren't you?"

"How do you know these things?" Sasuke said, exasperated by her knowledge.

"Your puffy eyes give it away. Wash your face with warm water. It'll help make them go away faster."

"Yeah," Sasuke turned away to do that.

"Uchiha-sama," Sakura interrupted again.

"What?" he said almost rudely.

"If you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me."

Sasuke simply nodded before closing the door. Sighing, he entered the bathroom to wash his face. Afterward he dressed and walked out the door, wearing his pack and his sword by his side. He met Sakura there again. She was ready for travel before she must have reached his room. They nodded silently to each other before Sasuke began to follow Sakura.

However, she led him not to the Main Room, but to the mess hall.

The only people there were a few Hyuuga guards and servants and his 'bodyguards.' Hinata and Neji were already awake, as if they woke up this early everyday. Tenten and Kiba (including Akamaru), however, did not seem to be morning people. They sat down and servants brought them some food. They ate in silence, as if they were all strangers to each other.

It was not long before another servant told brought them to the main gates of the Hyuuga Manor. As they stepped out of the doors, they saw how dark the city was. The sun's rays hadn't even peeked over the horizon. There they met with Hiashi.

"I know that some of you are not fully… functional at this hour, but you cannot dawdle any longer here without risking your lives. Now is the safest time for escape. I have told the Hyuugas patrolling the area to turn a blind eye towards you. Remember to head north and stay off main roads. After you reach the Rock Kingdom, plan your next course of action," Hiashi said.

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama," Sakura said before turning to leave.

"Wait," Hiashi held out a leather bag. "You'll need this money. It should help you when the time comes."

This time, Sakura bowed low before thanking him. Then, the group of six set out from the manor.

That was four hours ago.

They managed to exit the city without being seen an hour after leaving the city. It took them another hour to reach the forest. As Hiashi said, they stayed off main roads and paths, taking risks and simply heading north. They were now two hours into the forest.

Sasuke turned to Kiba, who was riding on Akamaru (who grew to the size of a horse when they reached the forest). If someone was going to be actively hunting the man, he could be putting Sasuke in danger. He walked over to him.

"Kiba, who are these people that are hunting you?" Sasuke asked.

"I can't tell you," Kiba answered, embarassed.

"Can you at least tell me why they're looking for you?"

Kiba opened his mouth to speak when an arrow fiercely struck him in his right shoulder, knocking him off his dog. The arrow pierced through him and got stuck to a tree, leaving Kiba's feet to barely touch the ground. Immediately, everyone snapped into defensive positions. Sakura was in front of Sasuke within a second.

"Care to tell me now, Kiba?" Sasuke said to the hanging man.

"No," Kiba said, his voice laced with some pain. Kiba gritted his teeth.

"Why not?"

"Because she'll answer for you," Kiba said, pointing at the figure emerging from the shadows.

"Look, Inuzuka, you can't run forever. So either comply or die, asshole," the figure said. She sounded young and feminine. Sakura looked surprised as if she recognized the voice. The strange young stepped into view. She had short pink hair that was identical in color to Sakura's hair and purple eyes. She had a bow in left right hand that had an arm guard and her right hand was in an iron gauntlet. Other than that, she wore clothes that were very similar to Sakura's clothing. Strapped at her waist was a quiver of arrows

"How about no, bitch?" was Kiba's answer.

"I'll just have to kill you then," she said, notching an arrow. Sasuke did not like how she simply ignored the rest of the group. He stepped in front of Kiba when he heard Sakura's voice.

"Maeka? Is that you?" the archer looked at Sakura.

"Sakura?"

"Oh my god, it's you!" she said in a suddenly cheery voice.

Sasuke deemed that she had changed again. He internally swore as the two girls ran over and hugged each other, squealing.

Just what he needed.

Two pink-haired idiots.

Scratch that.

Two pink-haired idiots that suffer from Multiple Personality disorder (or at least one of them).

"A little help here?" Kiba asked.

Sasuke broke the shaft of the arrow in his hand when he pulled it out.


	4. Divine Intervention?

Hey again! It's me with another chapter for you all! Not many reviews for the previous chapter so...

Lyfe.exe: You'll get your Naruto in the next chapter.

RLnaruhina: It's not just another Sakura but... Oh yeah, for the sake of the other readers, please do not comment about the first part of the chapter, with the smoking and all.

Announcements: Sorry folks, but no fighting in this chapter. I tried to include it, but then it seemed like this chapter would be dragged out. Kind of like chapter three, which didn't feel that good to me because it was dragged out I guess... But I babble on...

I do not own Fire Emblem or Naruto or Guilty Gear.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter 4: Divine Intervention? 

A lone figure was out walking at night. The moon was full but shrouded by the trees in the park, leaving the person only partially illuminated. Taking a box from his pocket, he pulled out a cigarette. He thentook out his sword and pushed his chakra into it. The blade began to glow a hot orange as he put the butt of the cigarette against it, lighting it. He expelled the chakra out of his sword and put the cigarette into his mouth before taking a deep draw from it.

He wore black. Or something dark-colored that matched black. The material was light, allowing the figure to stay cool during hot times. He hadhis sword placed cautiously at his side, attached to his belt. He looked young, looking not a day older than twenty-two.

His sword was an amazing piece of work, as if it had been crafted by a master weapons smith.

Then again, He crafted it along with everything else, so it was a sword with a one-hundred percent guarantee for awesomeness.

The river flowed gently next to him, whispering soothing words. He paused for a moment before smiling.

"Ah, it's good to see you once again," a voice behind him said. An old man with graying hair stepped out from the darkness of the trees in the park. He was dressed in a deacon's robe. "Our last meeting was interrupted."

"Oyaji, I don't know how you manage to find me whenever I'm around your area," the man said.

"Oyaji? Speak for yourself!" the old man laughed. "You're more than thirty times my age!"

"Whatever."

"As for your question, I'm a deacon. I should be able to feel your presence. And, because you're my friend. Want to talk a bit?"

"Fine. It's not like I have anything better to do," the man said. The pair sat down at one of the conveniently placed tables next to the river. There, they engaged in conversation, the man listening, offering pieces of advice, and giving his thought on the minister's topics. Eventually, they got talking about the old man's grandson.

"You know, he really wants to meet you one day. It's his goal," the old man said.

"I don't know. It'll depend on whether or not I want to see him."

"I told him that. Do you want to know what he said?" the old man claimed, a small smile on his face.

"What?"

"He said that-"

A faint ringing came from the man's pocket.

"Damn it. You'll have to excuse me," the man said, taking out a cell phone. The young man told him that it was a cell phone, and because of who he was, the old man took it as a fact.

"Did He call you again?"

"Yeah," The man said. He walked away a bit before answering it.

"What do you want?"

"…"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What do you want?" this time, the man sounded aggravated.

"…"

"That really small one? Yeah, I know him."

"…"

"So what do you want him to do?"

"…"

"WHAT?" this outbreak thoroughly shocked the old man.

"…"

"The last person we did that on freaked out and almost died! And I hated her!"

"…"

"Look, isn't there some other way?"

"…"

"How is this going to be beneficial to me? I just get another person that I have to look after and-"

"…"

"FINE! I give up! I'll do it! I'll have him give the seal."

"…"

"Involve WHO? We can't let him get involved, especially his-"

"…"

"Alright, alright! I'll ask him for help."

"…"

"Yeah, whatever. Bye." The man hung up. "God damn it!"

His cell phone began to ring again. The man looked at it.

"Yeah, I know you heard me!" He pocketed the phone and turned to the black sky.

"I bet you can see this too!"

The man made an obscene gesture at the sky.

The old man simply smiled as the man walked away from him. "Did He give you a job again?"

The man stopped and turned around. "Yeah."

"Well, whatever He wants, He gets."

"Hmph. That crazy bastard. I mean, you'd think that I'd be exempt from doing His jobs." The man turned around "You said that you have a grandson, correct?"

"What does my grandson have anything to do with this?" the old man said.

"It turns out that we're going to need his help." The man offered the old man his hand. "Come on, we need to be fast about this."

---

"Oh my god! You have to be kidding me!" Sakura cried out loud into the night.

It turned out that they were distant cousins and were around the same age.

"No, that was what happened!" Maeka exclaimed. "And you know what else?" she made a gesture to Sakura to lean in before whispering something into her ear.

And her full name was Kasen Maeka. Almost seconds after meeting her cousin, Sakura already told her how they were on the run. Maeka almost immediately made herself a 'bodyguard' for Sasuke saying how she "had to join in on the fun".

Sasuke watched in aggravation as Sakura's eyes suddenly opened. "No way! They did not do that together!"

They seemed inseparable. Sasuke brought his face to lean on his palm. They were sitting around a fire, having just eaten some rabbits (courtesy of Maeka). They had already set up tents, ready to sleep. "Maeka," Sasuke said. The girl turned to Sasuke, her expression suddenly gone hard. "I…" Sasuke hated speaking in a flowery manner, but… "hate to interrupt you, but I need to ask you some questions."

Maeka turned to him, looking fairly excited. "What do you want to know?" she said cheerfully.

'_Who the hell are you?'_ "Where do you come from?"

"I come from the Kasen Clan, a shinobi clan of archers," Maeka pointed to her crest, a golden bow and arrow pinned at her shoulder. "We liveclose to the border between the kingdoms of Rock and Fire."

'_Why are you so damn annoying?'_ "Why are you trying to kill Kiba?"

Maeka shot Kiba a dirty look. He met her stare with his own, anger seething in both of their eyes. She turned back to Sasuke. "He stumbled onto one of our family secrets."

"It was an accident," Kiba said. His right shoulder had already been bandaged and taken care of thanks to the ever-quiet Hinata.

"And you're lucky the council decided upon that, bastard!" she yelled at Kiba. She gave a huff before reverting her attention back to Sasuke. "Because of the council's decision, we gave Kiba an ultimatum: either marry into the clan or face execution."

Sasuke turned to Kiba. "What did you do?"

"I ran."

"Figures. All guys are afraid of commitment now," Maeka sassed.

"What does commitment have anything to do with this?" Kiba yelled at her.

"Nothing, asshole."

"Hmph." Kiba crossed his arms and looked away.

"…"

"Bitch."

The next second was a blur.

What Sasuke saw at the end was Kiba flat on his back, a red mark on the side of his face in the shape of a fist. Maeka was standing over him, an arm outstretched. She was about to swoop down to continue punching Kiba when Sasuke stepped between them, his Chidori drawn and pointing at her neck.

"I don't care if you're traveling with us as a 'bodyguard' or not. You will not attack Kiba or anyone else within this group. Otherwise, I will kill you myself." Sasuke withdrew his Chidori, placing it within its sheath. "It's getting late. I'll take night watch." With that Sasuke stood up and left the circle, leaving the glade that they camped in.

He walked past the first few trees, staying close enough to see the fire. Looking back, he saw that Kiba doused the fire before heading towards his tent. He cast a wary eye at Maeka before entering his tent. Sasuke turned away and faced a tree.

Walking up to it, he was now mere inches away from the trunk.

He closed his eyes before slowly leaning his head back and…

Thunk 

Leaned it back forward, letting gravity do the job of physically connecting his forehead and the tree trunk.

This… trip was taking a toll on him.

Thunk 

Both physically.

Thunk 

And mentally.

…

Someone's hand had come between his head and the tree. Out of reflex, he drew out his sword and pushed the offending hand away. However, another hand pushed him forward into the tree, his body colliding painfully with the wood. Turning his head to the side, he could only faintly make out pink tresses from the dim moonlight.

"Uchiha-sama."

'_Thank god it's Sakura and not her cousin or someone else,'_ Sasuke thought, _'but I still don't like this position!'_

"Please, others are going to sleep. I must ask that you desist in your… actions."

"You didn't have to push me into a tree to tell me that, Haruno-dono!" he hissed quietly. She gently lifted her palm from his back. He quickly stepped out of the sandwich formed by her and the tree before sheathing his sword.

"I know that," Sakura smiled.

"Then why did you-," it suddenly dawned upon Sasuke that he was not talking to Sakura. A small giggle came from behind him. Whipping around, he saw the real Sakura stepping out of a bush and running over to her cousin.

Raucous laughter filled the void.

"Haha! Gotcha!"

"Oh my god, that was so good!"

"You should have seen his face! It was like-"

Sakura made the silliest face he had ever seen her make.

"Yeah, that was a good one..." The laughter died down and footsteps marked the leaving of the pair.

Sasuke turned back to the tree. He closed his eyes and exhaled.

The pair was going to drive him insane.

He brought his head forward like before, expecting the dull and slightly painful thud of his forehead against the tree.

Once again, he felt a hand come between him and the tree. This time angry, he caught the person's wrist in his hand and turned, twisting the person's arm. He turned around to see locks of pink hair spinning in midair to relieve the tension on her arm (he knew it was a her because only two girls had pink hair in this… troop) before landing gracefully on her feet.

"You really should not do that Uchiha-sama. It's not good for you," This time, he knew it was Sakura; she had a sword secured at her hip.

He gave a sigh and dropped her wrist from his grasp. "What is it with you and your cousin?"

"We have been known to… fool around together a bit when we were kids."

"Well you shouldn't be fooling around now!" Sasuke said, as quietly as he could despite his obvious anger. He turned his back to her in disgust.

An uncomfortable silence made itself present.

"I know why you want to be night watch," Sakura said.

Sasuke's demeanor faltered. "W-What are you talking about?"

"You don't want the others know that you cry at night, do you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"…"

"Isn't that what you want?"

He turned his body towards her a little. "Yeah…" he whispered.

She gave a small smile, as if in triumph. "I'll take night watch with you then."

Sasuke simply turned away before answering, "Go ahead."

"You know," Sakura walked up next to him, "people go mad when they're overstressed."

"How can I _not_ stress?" Sasuke exploded, "My family is dead, all the kingdoms havemy face on a wanted sign, and half the time you're the respectable 'Haruno-dono' that I know and for the other half you're 'Sakura-sensei,' my impudent teacher!" He harshly kicked a stone away with a small yell. "I swear you do have Multiple Personality Disorder," he whispered

Silence.

"What if I did?"

"Huh? What are you implying, Haruno-dono?" Sasuke whipped around.

"Would you still dislike me for suffering from it?"

"I-"

"I know that you hate me when I play the role of your teacher," she turned her back to him. Sasuke remained silent. "We must be going. You can't be a night watch if you stand in one place." She began to walk away, but his hand reached out and held onto her shoulder.

"Wait. Do you have Multiple Personality Disorder?" Sasuke earnestly asked.

Sakura turned her head to look over her shoulder, her green eyes radiating a piercing glare. "What do you think, Sasuke-kun?" She icily said his name as she brusquely removed his hand from her shoulder and walked away.

He watched as her form disappeared into the darkness, her pink hair vanishing from sight. A feeling of regret and sadness tugged at his heartstrings. She had only been trying to help. Trying to help him.

---

Walking through the halls, a short, squat man with round sunglasses carefully observed his surroundings. Although none were visible, he was sure that the ANBU, the shinobi force under the direct order of the king (all kings had this), were watching his every move.

Then again, which shinobis were not under the direct control of their king?

Cautiously looking around once more, he opened the door to the throne room.

A red carpet was laid out in front of him leading to the seat that Uchiha Itachi sat in. He wore fiery armor similar to Sasuke's coronation armor (except that what Itachi wore would actually protect him) along with a black cape. The man bowed low to his king.

"You may enter, Gatou," Itachi said. The said man walked in tense under the king's glare. "What are the whereabouts of my brother?" the last part he said with disgust.

"We have reports that Sasuke was at the Hyuuga city, accompanied by Haruno Sakura, two Hyuugas, along with a man with a dog and a women carrying a pool stick," Gatou said. "Perhaps he is disguising his group as traveling mercenaries?"

"It is a possibility. Do we know where they are heading?"

"Although it is not certain, rumor has it that he is fleeing to the Rock Kingdom. We have also heard that they are traveling at a… leisurely pace. Should we send our troops ahead of them and cut them off before the border?"

"We simply cannot send just any troops," Itachi said. "My brother carries the Chidori with him. Have them send Mumoichi-san and his squad to cut Sasuke off at the border.

"Very well," Gatou shuddered. "What shall we do about the Harunos? Their daughter is conspiring with him!"

"We shall arrest the Haruno house. They claim that they had nothing to do with Haruno Sakura's betrayal, but something is going on…" Itachi trailed off. He thought back to the day he claimed the throne. Sakura was able to realize that he had killed the family and warn Sasuke about it. "You may leave, Gatou-san."

Once again, Gatou bowed before hurrying out of the king's presence. The name Mumoichi sent chills up his spine. That man's strength was unnatural; he carried a gigantic sword with one hand! Add on the fact that no one knew where he came from or anything else about his background information and Mumoichi seemed to gain an ethereal aura about him.

Zatou was simply reassured by the fact that Mumoichi was not after him.

---

The next morning came and the group set off at daybreak.

To be honest with him self, Sasuke felt like crap. He was tired and felt covered with grime and sweat. But mostly, he felt like there was a gap between him and Sakura now. Even he knew that such a gap in this situation was threatening. And so, he set out to do something that he rarely did.

He was going to apologize to Haruno Sakura. He was going to march up to her and tell her that he was sorry. Sorry for being such a jerk. Sorry for being ignorant. Sorry for dragging her into this mess.

If planning it out in Sasuke's head had made him feel better, he was not showing it. The group had already packed away the tents and set off towards the Rock Kingdom. They stayed quiet, the air around them tense. Kiba and Maeka were silently at each other's throats while he and Sakura were at odds with each other. And though they did not show it, Sasuke had a feeling that there was some sort of rift between Neji and Tenten. The only bystander to these arguments was the quiet Hinata.

The best way seemed to be that he asks Sakura to stay behind with him so that he could apologize. Gritting his teeth, he walked up next to her.

She distanced herself from him. He walked closer and before she could slip away, he gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"Haruno-dono, I-"

A poof and a rustle were heard in a nearby bush. Without a moment's hesitation, Sakura was in front of him, her sword drawn and a defensive position. Maeka had notched an arrow and was aiming at the location of the sound. Tenten prepared her pool stick while Kiba pulled out a kunai and Akamaru prepared itself to jump. Neji and Hinata were in the front, their Byakuugans activated.

The twoHyuugasimmediately stepped out of their stances, seeing what was inside the bush. It stepped out, revealing itself to be the tiniest full-grown fox they had ever seen in their lives. Walking over, it watched as the group lowered their weapons. Akamaru however stayed on guard. It went to each member sniffing the air before finally bounding back towards Hinata.

As it reached her, it came to a slow trot before crouching low. In one spring-loaded leap, it jumped onto her shoulder and sat facing foward, as if it was the most normal thing to do in the world.

Surprised, Hinata would have fallen down had she not caught herself on a tree trunk. She looked over at the fox. It looked like it could fit in the palm of her hand. Shefelt its tail swish back and forth on her shoulder blade before it looked back at her. She stared into the fox's red eyes. She felt warm staring into them.

The tiny fox then began its only jutsu it knew. _'Foxy Eyes no Jutsu!'_

"Can we keep it?" Hinata blurted out to the group. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands and blushed a deep red.

"Hinata-san, it is not the smartest idea to take care of a wild animal as well as Uchiha-sama. That would be splitting your priorities," Neji said. "Besides, how would we feed it?"

"I… I could take care of it…" Hinata quietly said, tapping her fingers together.

"Then how would _you_ feed it?" Neji berated her.

"It's a fox right? I could just get a rabbit or something…"

"Hinata-san, you still need to train. Even if you could catch food for it," Neji walked closer, "it would only be a distraction." He reached over to pick the small fox off of her shoulder.

"Don't touch it!" the entire troop turned towards the voice to see a teenage boy the age of fifteen running towards them. He had black hair and wore a yellow shirt with beige pants. He also carried a wooden staff with a large golden circle on top with a hole in the center. It looked as if the area of the hole was only a little smaller than the area of the circle. He had a hip pouch with its strap over his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Neji asked. Walking up to the boy, he prepared himself, in case the child would lash out at him.

"My name is Konohamaru and I am a jutsu specialist."

"And why shouldn't I touch this animal?" Neji said.

"Because to do so would be putting your life in jeopardy. Besides, you guys are heading towards the Rock Kingdom correct?" Neji nodded.

"How do you know?"

"It's actually the other way. Some pranksters fixed the sign a ways back to say that the Rock Kingdom is this way."

* * *

I've decided to have a mini-bio for my OC's. So here's the one for Maeka! 

Full Name: Kasen Maeka

Surname Translation: Fire Arrow

Name Translation: Beautiful women/Beautiful flower

Attitude: Hotheaded, swears, not afraid to physically hurt people. Enjoys making pranks, especially with her cousin Sakura.

Hair: Pink

Eyes: Purple

Family: Member of Kasen Clan (For all those wondering, allfemales born within theKasen Clan have pink hair.), cousin of Haruno Sakura (Potential Triangle Attack?).

Weapon of Choice: Family-style bows and arrows. Uses metal gauntlets to protect fingers and arms as well as a melee attack.

* * *

I have a request. Does anyone have the song "No Mercy"? It's the music for Guilty Gear X when its Sol versus Ky. It sounds awesome and I would like to have the song or sheet music for it. If you do, please e-mail it to me. Thanks! 

P.S. For those waiting for Product Shinobi, chapter two is eight pages long and still working on it! Hang in there! I think it's so long because I have to explain systems and whatnot, since it isa HUGE AU.


	5. Much Ado About Confusion

Yes! I made it on Christmas. It is now almost four in the morning on Christmas Day. I really wanted to finish this before the break ends so I can get as far as a I can work on the next part of Product Shinobi. And now, in constant dislike of their new rules, reviews!

Karu Yami no Katon: Happy belated birthday! Here's your present!

To those who reviewed and asked about Naruto: Just keep reading. It will BLOW YOUR MIND!

RLnaruhina: Yay!

Lone Sakura: The time period is supposed to be fairly modern. It has the same technology as it does in the anime. However, the cell phone thingy only certain characters will have. I can't tell you much more about it, since it would spoil the story.

Zordon: Eh... I can't tell you much about Naruto, since it will ruin the BLOW YOUR MIND effects.

Bandit666: Yes, I did mean Momochi. I got the spelling wrong I guess.

Tank: Yes, I watch Bleach, and it kicks ass. And yes, Yachiru is awesome as well. But I did not have her in mind when I began writing this fic. I did not start watching Bleach until recently. Oh yeah. By rabu, you mean love right? Because if it means what it sounds like, rub, then... whoa.

Kikuchou: I do not know how the pairings will go involving Ino, Shikamaru, Temari, and Chouji. I still have to find a way to work them into the story line.

Notes: In this chapter, and in chapters to come, I will be incorporating the Internet Language, l337. However, I will dumb it down. I will only replace a, e, i, and o. A is 4, E is 3, I is 1, and O is 0. It will be used in certain circumstances.

* * *

Chapter 5: Much Ado About Confusion

"So what exactly is a Jutsu Specialist?"

Everyone had just finished eating a meal of fish on a stick and was now sitting comfortable around a fire, its light casting an orange-yellow hue on everything around it. Thankfully, it was better than last night, as there was no fighting and the tension between the people had seemingly been forgotten.

"Well," Konohamaru began, "we kind of just travel around collecting jutsus."

Silence.

"That's it?" Maeka asked.

"Yeah."

"Nothing else?"

"Well, sometimes we'll try to improve upon some of the jutsus we collect, such as making it have different attributes by using different seals. It's a bit difficult."

"Oh…" Maeka trailed off.

"That's… kind of boring," Kiba said.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he saw what he thought was Maeka nodding her head in agreement.

"Well… what about that strange staff you have?" Sakura asked.

"It's a jutsu enhancer. My gramps made it for me when I was twelve." Things got interesting again.

"Enhancer?" Neji said, "How?"

"I think the more important question word would be what. A jutsu enhancer is an object that is created to make a jutsu more powerful. Personally, I don't know the mechanics behind it or how he made it. All I know is that you just focus your mind on the circle after doing the hand seals and just let the staff do the rest of the work."

"How many jutsus do you know?"

"Um… a lot? I lost count after one hundred. I do have them on a list though."

"Is that how you knew that the fox wasn't a normal fox?" Hinata asked. She held the tiny vulpine in her left hand while she gently stroked its back with her right index finger. Its eyes were closed, a gentle grumble of content emanating from its muzzle. She had fed it a few morsels of her fish.

Konohamaru nodded. "For one, its size is the key point. From the way it looks, it had just reached the equivalent of a six-month old fox. But its size doesn't match. Also, its behavior is another give away. Foxes won't just randomly jump onto your shoulder. Although I'm not too sure what it is exactly, I have a feeling it's a animal summon."

And now the conversation was dead. Since there were no more questions, everyone began to just sit and be quiet. Uchiha Sasuke did his best to stifle a yawn. He was still tired having not slept last night. After having successfully controlled his yawn, he turned to ask Konohamaru some questions.

"Konohamaru, if you're going to be traveling with us, we need to know more about you." The teenager nodded in agreement.

"Alright, first question. Since we already know your name, we want to know about your family. Who are your brothers, sisters, etc."

"Well… I don't have a mom or dad. I just live with my gramps. He's a deacon."

"Alright. Now why do you want to join us? You do know who I am, right?"

"Yeah, you're Uchiha Sasuke, the man who killed his family and then ran. However, my gramps told me to help you, saying that you were a good person. And he's never been wrong before so I just did what he told me. I guess it all rests on your decision."

"Okay then, last question. Have you ever killed somebody before?"

"Well… there was this one time."

* * *

Eventually the fire was put out by a water jutsu from Konohamaru. Maeka and Tenten were unfortunate enough to be picked for night watch duty and were slowly making their rounds through the camp. 

Konohamaru had joined the growing band of bodyguards.

'_At this rate, I'll have my own miniature army,'_ thought Sasuke as he crawled into his sleeping bag. He felt so dirty, having not bathed at all in what felt like the longest time. Perhaps they'd be able to stop next to a river and take turns bathing.

He immediately ruled out the idea, since it would take too much time. Their current priority was to leave the Fire Kingdom. Perhaps once they passed the border they could stay somewhere and then they could take time out to clean themselves.

That was if they wouldn't be put on the run by the Rock Kingdom's shinobis. His thoughts turned grim as he imagined his small band being overwhelmed and decimated by the combined forces of the four largest kingdoms: Fire, Snow, Sand, and Lightning. He cringed as he thought of Sakura falling into a lifeless heap with blood slowly seeping out of her.

She didn't even have to be helping Sasuke. For all he knew, she was doing her job of protecting him, the prince who can't even focus during battle. She had put so much on the line for him recently, and yet he couldn't even thank her for it.

In the privacy of his tent, he swore to make sure that Sakura would return to Konoha safely. He would become strong so that she wouldn't have to worry about him.

Doing his best to ignore the feeling of being dirty, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

In another tent, Hinata was sitting up on her sleeping bag, gently petting the small fox. Where would she put the small animal for its rest? Inside her sleeping bag? On her pillow? She was about to give up on the thought when the animal jumped off her hand and landed on the sleeping bag.

Sighing, she decided just to get in and then let the small fox choose. Taking off her sandals, she stripped down into undergarments and climbed in. She never could sleep in her day clothes, and she didn't bring any pajamas with her. However, she may have to find a way to sleep in day clothes, since they were constantly traveling now. Slipping in, she lied down flat on her back and closed her eyes.

She felt a gentle pressure on her stomach. Looking up, she saw the tiny fox gently padding the sleeping bag before gently collapsing into a heap of orange red, its red eyes staring back at hers. She smiled at the site.

"So are you a boy or a girl?" she asked the fox. "Girl?"

The fox gave a growl.

"So you're a boy?"

It yipped in approval.

"I should give you a name then," She said smiling. But then she stopped and replaced it with what looked like a pout. What kind of name do you give to an animal summon the size of your fist? "How about… Kitsune-chan?" it was not a very original name, but the fox seemed to nod in approval before lowering its head to sleep.

"Alright then. Goodnight, Kitsune-chan." She gave the fox one last pat before going to sleep herself, the tiny weight over her stomach barely registering in her mind.

She later woke up when the tiny weight was no longer over her. "Kitsune-chan?" She could not find it in her tent. She looked at the zipper that closed it to find that it had been pulled up to let the fox out.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she activated her Byakuugan. "Bya… Byakuu…" she yawned, "Byakuugan…" As chakra filled her eyes, she looked around, searching for the small fox.

She spotted it near her cousin's tent. She watched as it slowly walked away from their camping grounds. Hastily tossing on her clothes, she opened the tent and stepped out into the night air. She ran for the small fox and was amazed that it could run so fast for its size. She then noticed that Kitsune-chan had stopped running and was sitting on its haunches, as if waiting for someone. As Hinata was about to enter the glade, she noticed an approaching figure. She quickly hid behind a tree and leaned on her side so that her blind spot wouldn't cover the area. She was close enough to see, but not close enough to hear.

What Hinata saw amazed her.

The approaching figure was one handsome thing. She considered it handsome because he had a face that would come to her in her dreams, but thing because it was obviously far from human.

The figure was dressed in black jeans and a black leather jacket that was half zipped, revealing just a tiny portion of his defined chest (she blushed heavily at the sight of it). His hair was a spiky blonde and his eyes were a mesmerizing blue. On one hip he had a hip pouch. The other hip he tied what was the strangest sword she had ever seen in her life. For one, it was in the shape of a long, thin rectangle. In the middle of it was a smaller red rectangle. Its hilt was a red rectangular prism. Above it was a smaller rectangular prism with what looked like five small holes.

All this would have been slightly less confusing if the figure did not have nine two-meter tails coming from right above his hips and what looked like fox ears protruding from his head while lacking human ones. He also had strange whisker-like marks on his cheeks. But she would leave the sleuthing part for later. Right now, he was slowly approaching Kitsune.

As soon as the tiny fox caught his scent, it immediately ran towards him. The man smiled as the fox reached and began to circle around him, making what sounded like joyful yips. Leaning against a tree, the man sat down, his red-orange tails majestically dancing around him. At the very end of each tail was a tip of white. Kitsune sat down in front of him, its face throwing out mirth.

The man put his hands into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and put it into its mouth. Then, drawing his sword (Hinata held her breath), he circulated chakra through it and it glowed a hot red. Putting the end of the cigarette to it, it lit up and he took a puff before returning the chakra to his body. He put the sword back to onto his hip. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled a plume of smoke into the air around him.

"So she gave you the name of Kitsune-chan, eh?" the man said (Hinata decided to call him a man because he looked at least somewhat human). "Did you give her the seal yet?" the figure asked. The fox's composure drooped a bit.

"What? No? You need to give it to her soon. I can't become her guardian until the seal is given to her," the man said. He took another puff of his cigarette before exhaling the smoke in a sigh.

"Well, until you give her the seal, there's not much you can do. I won't know when she's in danger and I would be of no help whatsoever." The man stood up. "If that's all, then-"

He was cut off by a whining noise. He looked down to see Kitsune with a sad expression on its face.

"You want me to stay?"

The fox nodded.

"Alright then," he sat back down again. "It's not like I have anything better to do." He took another puff on his cigarette. "So what do you want me to talk about?"

Kitsune yipped once.

"Yeah, I miss my family in Heaven. I left them after I went through the maturity zap. Then again, it's not like I had a choice, being sent to Hell and all. One day, He just decided that there must be evil for good to be in the world. So He just told Orochimaru and Jiraiya to pick a handful of us and create Hell. I happened to have been chosen and I left the day after. I remember when I left, my sister wanted to follow me, but I told her that she should enjoy her time with the family."

Kitsune tilted his head to his side.

"So you want to know about Hell? Well, to be honest with you, it's not much different than Heaven. I mean we still give allegiance to Him, so we still receive his blessings. The only difference between Heaven and Hell is that Heaven has the Sanctuary and Hell has the Pit. Everything else is about the same." He took an absentminded puff before blowing out a smoke ring. "And the Pit is separate from the rest of the community unlike the Sanctuary."

Kitsune looked at the cigarette in his hand.

"I know that it's bad for you. But when you're like me, you end up not caring too much about your health."

The small fox went flat on its stomach and laid his head on his paws.

"Yeah, I miss her. I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder how she's doing down there in Hell…" The man looked up at the night sky through the canopy of leaves. He stood up, causing the small fox to rise as well.

"Well, I guess I should get going. He told me that there's going to be a battle tomorrow, so both of you need to be prepared for it." He took one last smoke before he burnt the entire cigarette with a stroke of his sword, not even leaving ashes.

"Remember, if you need me, just call."

Then the man turned to look at the tree Hinata was hiding behind. She started to panic. Had he known that she was there the whole time?

Wearing a sly smile, he stared her in the eye before disappearing in a pillar of smoke. She had heard none of the conversation, being too far away. Her heart pounded away in her chest, pushing against the ribcage as if wanting to escape. Would the man come back to kill her for eavesdropping on the conversation? She was brought out of her thoughts by Kitsune, which jumped onto her shoulder.

"I guess we should go back, huh?" Hinata said. The small fox nodded.

As she walked back, she felt something weird on her arm. She looked over to see Kitsune slowly descending her arm. "What are you doing, Kitsune-chan?" the fox paid no attention to her as it made its way down to the back of her hand, made considerably easier when Hinata stretched forth her arm. It turned around and then began to slowly nudge the sleeve of her sweater up her arm. It pushed it back to the middle of her forearm before stopping.

"What are you- Ow!" she yelped when Kitsune had bit down on her arm. It had been no harder than a pinch, but it had surprised her. "Kitsune-chan…" she whined as it hopped back onto her shoulder. "Why did you do that?" She examined her arm and was surprised to see a tiny swirl on her right forearm. The miniature fox had trotted back onto her shoulder and taken a seat.

Hinata paid no attention to the fox. She simply stood there examining the mark.

He licked her cheek. She gave a small cry before getting the message and returning to her tent.

It had been a strange night, she thought as she stripped down once again to her undergarments. Crawling into her sleeping bag, she let the small fox once again sleep on her stomach before looking absently at the top of her tent.

The last image that went through her mind was the face of the mysterious person, his hauntingly beautiful blue eyes piercing through her soul.

* * *

Morning had just ambled over the horizon as Sasuke roused himself from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes with his hands, glad to know that there were no trails of dry tears. His time of mourning was long over. It was time to take back what was rightfully his. 

But first, he had to apologize to Sakura. And he had to apologize soon.

Popping some dried meat into his mouth, he got dressed before stepping outside. Slowly, the rest of the group began to wake up. Those on night watch returned and helped out with the cleaning. They were gone within the hour.

As he walked, Sasuke continued to stare in Sakura's direction. He couldn't tell much, but she still seemed angry with him. He began to move in her direction, but stopped.

He couldn't apologize in front of these people. He barely knew them. To step out like this was out of his comfort zone. Perhaps being the prince of a kingdom was not all it was cracked up to be. Sighing, he continued his walk.

He noticed that the trees were no longer as packed together as when they first started off in the morning.

There was also an abnormal mist hanging about. Warily looking around, he trotted up to Sakura, not with the intent to apologize but to inform.

"Haruno-dono, Th-"

"Sakura-sensei."

Ignoring her, he continued. "This mist, doesn't it seem unnatural?"

"What are you talking about, Sasuke-kun? It feels perfectly fine," she said coolly.

"This mist is really thick. We can't see too much. And don't tell me that its natural, because a fog like this can't be this thick this late in the morning. Something is going on here," he seethed.

"It is perfectly fine," Sakura said with no emotion. Giving up, Sasuke went to each member of the group, asking the same questions about the strange mist.

Only Hinata, Neji, and Kiba agreed with him. Both Kitsune and Akamaru made sounds of agreement, but they didn't count as people. As soon as he turned around to catch back up with Sakura, the tiny fox let out a long howl. It was high-pitched because of its petite size, but it was a howl no doubt. Afterwards it sat on his haunches upon Hinata's shoulder and paid no more attention.

A few more feet, and there were no more trees around them. "We're at the river border," Konohamaru said. Slowly, the mist supernaturally peeled away in front of them.

To reveal a force of one hundred shinobis on the other side of the river.

"Didn't I tell you, Sakura-sensei?" Sasuke hissed.

"Shut up and draw your sword, Uchiha-sama." As he drew his Chidori, the rest of his group prepared themselves for battle.

"Uchiha Sasuke," a low voice said, "and Haruno Sakura. A nice pair of names." Slowly, the crowd of shinobis parted to reveal a tall and lanky man. He carried a gigantic blade with an indent in it with one hand. His face was half hidden behind a mask of medical tape. "Too bad we'll kill you here, though."

"Who are you?" Sasuke yelled.

"I am Momochi Zabuza."

Sasuke could hear Sakura's hands grip her sword tighter. "You know this man?" Sasuke asked.

"He's one of Konoha's top squad commanders. All the soldiers under his control are ruthless in battle. I should have known better. You were right. The mist… he made it. He always attacks under a mist," Sakura said, cringing.

Zabuza spoke once more. "Before we begin though, Haruno, I have a message for you from King Uchiha." Sasuke gripped his sword tighter as well. "Your entire family has been arrested."

"W-What?" She blurted.

"For your treason against the King, he has arrested your entire family, children included," Zabuza mildly said. "He says he'll release them if you come back."

Sasuke turned to Sakura, "You don't have to involve your family in this. I'll understand if you want to-"

"I'll stay with you" Sakura said to him. "When I," her voice faltered a bit before resuming its original strength, "When I became a shinobi, I swore that I would put you before my life. If… If that means that my family is to remain in custody, then so be it. They will understand." She then turned to Zabuza.

"I will not return to Konoha. Not under that tyrant's rule," she said strongly. "I… I will do what I must to protect the true King," she calmly said. "They will understand."

"So be it." Zabuza turned to his men. "Leave Uchiha and Haruno to me. The rest… I don't care what you do with them. Slow advance." Zabuza turned to leave, going back through the crowd of shinobis. The mist closed up once again, revealing almost nothing to the group. Slowly, his forces advanced.

Sasuke could tell that his team was scared. Not seeing but knowing that many soldiers were advancing on them, it was a tactic. Instill fear into their hearts and make them run. Sasuke gritted his teeth and got into a ready stance.

* * *

"…" 

"So you want me to take his sword back to Hell?"

"…"

"Would they still let me back in?"

"…"

"Yeah, I guess I could do that."

"…"

"Quick question. Do you want me to kill him myself, or let them try their luck?"

"…"

"Okay then. Anything else?"

"…"

"And you want me to travel with them?"

"…"

"Fine. I'll talk to you later then," he hung up on his cell phone and sighed before continuing through the forest.

The lone figure was slowly approaching the river border. Dressed in black, he held his strange rectangular sword was in his right hand. His nine billowing tails and fox ears glimmered with the mist's water. He had a cigarette in his mouth. Removing it, the being destroyed it by burning to nothingness with his sword before taking a whiff of the air.

'_Smells like Zabuza,'_ he thought. _'Well, time to get to work.'_

Slowly, the tails shrunk until they were no more, leaving only a patch of skin above his hips. His fox ears went into his golden mass of hair and he gained normal human ears on the sides of his head. Making sure that everything looked fine, he approached the clearing where the fight would be.

He saw two groups with his enhanced vision. One was almost ten times the size of the other. Smiling, he approached the smaller one. He made his presence known by humming a cheerful tune.

The group looked at him.

He looked back and recognized a few of them as the descendents of his old friends. "Good morning," he said. Looking at the large group of oncoming shinobis currently crossing the river, he turned to the one that looked like the leader, with his black hair and sword. "Some battle going on?"

"Who are you?" the leader said.

"I believe it is proper to introduce yourself before asking for one's name?"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke looked at Naruto's sword. "What kind of sword is _that_?"

"Oh, nice to meet you. My name is Naruto." Naruto bowed a tiny bit before turning around to survey the enemy once more. He blatantly ignored his last question.

"No surname?"

"So will there be a battle?" Naruto said, ignoring Sasuke once again. Naruto was very aware that the entire group was looking at him now (one of them was most shocked to see him. The fox was simply elated to see him once again, but he didn't really count…).

"Yes."

"I see. Got a plan?"

"Well…" Sasuke began, "Since there is this mist hanging around, I was thinking of having Kiba go with Maeka-"

"Hey!" Maeka cried out. Sasuke ignored her.

"Because Akamaru could help pinpoint enemies and Maeka could take them out. Neji and Tenten would be a nice team, since the Byakuugan would see all around and they could pick off enemies also." A pair of grumbles emanated from said persons. "And I guess Hinata and Konohamaru would come with Sakura-"

"_Haruno-dono._"

"and I," Sasuke was most shocked at Naruto's straightforwardness. Naruto turned to face him.

"I have a better idea," he said. "How about you guys take… oh…" he turned around and quickly surveyed the shinobis that were now on dry ground. "the front row. You two," he pointed at Sasuke and Sakura, "head towards Zabuza, and I'll take care of the rest. Sound good?"

"How will you take on that many of them?" Neji said, insulted that he was to be paired with that… fiend of a woman.

"Oh I'll be fine." And without further ado, Naruto marched towards the enemy, humming his little tune.

He could see that they were smirking at him. Three of them suddenly ran at him with weapons drawn.

As they approached, he simply walked by their still figures, a surprised and horrified look on each of their faces. They began to cough up blood and fall to the ground, dead. Severe lacerations to the chest, each and every one of them. The red liquid pooled beneath their bodies.

Naruto turned around to Sasuke. "Come on," he said, "this battle won't fight itself." He turned around again and marched towards the enemy, who were now running at him. Moving his arm faster than they could see, he began to cut them down, one by one. He hummed his little tune a little louder.

He killed another five men before he felt a pressure deep within him. Turning around, he walked back to where the group was. He lunged his sword back and stabbed another man before pulling his blade out.

He continued his humming.

**_Hinata_**

Dodging left and right, she had a very small window of opportunity to strike back. Maybe a point here and there, but that was all. No kill spots could be hit before she had to dodge again.

She and Neji were probably doing better than the rest of the group though, she thought. At least she had almost three-sixty degree vision. She could see what was coming.

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the ground. Her heart jumped as she fell out of balance (Kitsune was as calm as ever. What was it with this animal summon?). One shinobi lunged out at her, a sword in hand. _'I'm going to die… aren't I?'_ she thought. _'Sorry, tou-san…'_ she instinctively closed her eyes, waiting for the blade to fall. Not that her Byakuugan was obstructed by it.

A slash was heard as Naruto appeared in front of her, cutting through the sword and killing the shinobi. She could just barely see his body in motion as he cut enemies left and right. His style looked refined and fluid, as if he had practiced for hundreds of years. Slowly, the enemies retreated from the pair and focused their attention to a different group. He turned around and smiled at her.

"Good morning," he said. He cut the hands from her ankles and caught her before she fell. He then stabbed the ground (there was a muffled yell) and pulled the sword out. Naruto let go of Hinata as she regained her bearings once again. She almost immediately fell but regained her balance. "What, not going to reply?"

"Y-You… I saw y-you in the forest last n-night…"

"What do you mean? I was sleeping last night."

"N-No! You w-were talking with K-Kitsune-chan!" Hinata yelled.

"Okay look. We're in the middle of a battle here. I say we go and help out your friends. Not all of them are blessed with your kind of vision." He began to walk away, humming his tune once again.

He turned around. "Well, come on!" Getting the message, she quickly ran after him and they walked into the mist.

**_Meanwhile_**

The sound of bones cracking through the mist meant that she was hitting her targets.

"There's another over there," Neji pointed out. Preparing yet another ball, Tenten smacked it towards the direction. A crack and another scream.

They were fairing the best through the battle. No one had been able to get close to them yet. Tenten took a breath of cold air.

Damn

Making all those balls of chakra had begun to take a toll on her. Sweat began to drip down her forehead as she prepared another.

"Behind you," he stoically said. Quickly spinning, she hit another ball at the oncoming shinobi, from which another resounding crack was heard.

"At least tell me if I'm killing them," she said, panting.

"You killed that one."

"And the _rest?_"

"Them too."

Tenten sighed. Was this all Neji would say? If so, he would be a boring rival. She took a deep breath.

"Tired?" he asked.

"I think I'm okay," _'Can't show weakness…'_ she told herself.

"To your left," Neji said. But as she prepared to make a ball, she found one being thrown at her. She caught it and then stared at Neji.

"What the hell is this?"

"You're getting low on chakra." He looked towards the ball he made. "The balls you use are simply compressed chakra on the inside with a hard chakra shell on the outside, correct?"

Tenten remained silent.

"It's not hard to figure it out. I'm not a genius for nothing."

Rushing to her side, he struck the shinobi from the left at his heart, killing him upon contact.

"Keep focused. We're in the middle of a battle here. Another one that way." Neji pointed at another enemy within the mist. She knocked the ball towards the enemy. "And you killed him too."

Making another ball of chakra, Neji tossed it to her. "I'll make the balls from here on. You just focus on hitting them in the right direction."

Tenten smirked. At least Neji wasn't downright mean.

**_Elsewhere_**

"Damn it!" Maeka said as she punched an oncoming enemy square in the face, the gauntlets proving more than hurtful.

"There's too many of them!" Konohamaru said as he used his staff to knock another away.

"I know that!" Kiba yelled back, swiping at an enemy's chest with his claws while he was distracted by Akamaru. "Can you shoot some of them, Maeka?"

"I can't, asshole!"

"Why not?" he would have added bitch, but with the knowledge of what happened last night still fresh in his mind, he refrained from doing so. Besides, if she did attack him, they would leave themselves open.

"No time to draw an arrow! Plus I can't see them!"

Kiba growled. "Konohamaru! Can you use a fire jutsu to get rid of this mist?" he barked.

"I'll try! Get close to the ground because it's going to be big!" the fifteen-year old answered. He did several hand seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Withdrawing chakra from his staff and adding it to his own in his lungs, he put the circle next to his mouth, aimed at the sky, and exhaled.

A gigantic fireball lit up the field like a beacon. The air around became superheated, causing much of the mist to evaporate. The battlefield became much clearer. As proof, a soft twang was heard as an arrow lodged itself in the throat of an enemy. He fell to the ground, dead.

"Much better!" Maeka yelled. However, she was forced to move to the side and punch another as they closed in on their position once again.

'_Damn… we need Maeka to pick off more enemies from a distance.'_ He looked at Akamaru who was at his heels, ready to strike. _'Sorry, but I'll make it up to you.'_ "Akamaru! Catch!" Kiba tossed a food pill at his dog, watching him eat it. "Ueru! (1)" Kiba yelled. Nodding, Akamaru began to grow in size until it was taller than his master.

"Maeka! Get over here!" he yelled. Punching away another enemy, she ran over to him.

"What, asshole?"

"Get on Akamaru."

"What?" she said. A bark proclaimed Akamaru's protest.

"Look, we need you to be able to pick off enemies from a distance. But since they get close to you, you need to find away to get far from them. So I'll have Akamaru carry you around," Kiba said. Turning to his dog, he replied, "Sorry, Akamaru, I'll make it up to you. I want you to listen to her, okay?"

The dog whined, but got down on its belly, signifying for Maeka to get on. Maeka looked at Kiba. "If I get killed by your dog, I'm going to come back as a ghost and kill you."

She then proceeded to do her best to get on. She her grip slipped from Akamaru's fur and she almost fell.

She tried again, but had no luck getting on top of the giant dog. She muttered several expletives.

She tried again, except she felt Kiba's hands on her butt pushing her onto the dog. She blushed before yelling at him. "Kiba! What makes you think you can touch my ass?" she screamed.

"Look, I don't care right now, okay?" he yelled back, a barely visible blush on his cheeks. "What matters right now is that you can hit your targets. You can yell at me later. Besides," he said, "you needed the boost."

She grimaced at him before looking away. Straddling the dog's back, she notched an arrow onto her bow. "I am SO going to kick your ass later," she seethed.

Kiba shrugged. "Whatever. Keep her safe, Akamaru. Go!" Akamaru stood up and began to run with Maeka barely holding on, screaming profanities along the way.

He ran back to Konohamaru, who was being assisted by Hinata and Naruto.

He was very suspicious of Naruto. He just randomly appeared out of nowhere and offered his help. Kiba watched as the strange person swung his sword around, stopping any force in its tracks. Naruto's attacks were quick and deadly, his arm barely making a blur.

If Kiba blinked, he would miss the attack entirely.

Kiba went up to Naruto before yelling out his name. "Oi, Naruto! That's your name, right?"

Naruto turned to him. "Yeah. That's my name."

"Who exactly are you and why are you here?"

"I'm just a swordsman who has nothing better to do," Naruto nonchalantly replied before punching another enemy into unconsciousness. He looked at Kiba. "Leave this guy alive. We'll need him."

Kiba didn't buy his excuse. Naruto probably also knew.

"It looks like most of the enemies had been thinned out," Naruto said as he scanned the area.

"Yeah, thanks for taking care of most of them," Kiba roughly replied.

"Can I leave the rest to you guys? I want to check up on Sasuke and Sakura."

"Go ahead." Kiba just wanted the weird guy out of here.

"Great! Just keep yourselves alive, okay?" and Naruto walked off, humming his tune once again.

Kiba gritted his teeth. He couldn't help but feel mocked.

**_Concurrently_**

As Zabuza had ordered them to, each shinobi they passed by did not attack them. It was almost eerie how they could simply walk through the force and part them, heading towards the leader himself.

They had been walking for quite a while now. The sounds of blades cutting flesh had died down. Neither of them knew of what had become of their small brigade of comrade in arms. The only thing they could do was keep moving through the dense mist.

"I see that you are brave enough to face me by yourselves," a voice said as the mist slowly cleared, revealing Zabuza. "However, bravery is synonymous with stupidity."

Sakura held her sword at her side, ready to kill with a moment's notice. "Why are you after us?"

"Because we were ordered to. The king wants little Sasuke-kun's sword here. We are to get it by any means possible," the man said smiling.

"You're not getting it. The sword chose me. It will not allow Itachi to wield it," Sasuke replied, gripping his sword.

"Unless you're dead of course. It will have to obey Uchiha-sama if you're dead."

Sasuke and Sakura drew their weapons. It was obvious that Zabuza had no intention of letting Sasuke leave. The lanky man drew his gigantic sword only to stop midway before donning a smirk.

"Uzum4k1. H0w n1c3 t0 s33 y0u," Zabuza said mockingly.

"Y0u st3pp3d 0ut 0f l1n3, Z4buz4," Naruto answered, stepping into the clearing and facing him. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"1'm 0nly d01ng my j0b 4s 0r0ch1m4ru's servant."

"0r0ch1m4ru? H4! Y0u'r3 f1lth in h1s 3y3s. Y0u'v3 ch4ll3ng3d H1m by j01n1ng 4 hum4n t4sk f0rc3 4nd g1v1ng th3m 4n unf41r 4dv4nt3ge."

"What are they saying?" Sakura asked. Sasuke simply remained silent.

"S0 y0u'r3 h3r3 t0 t4k3 m3 b4ck?" Zabuza joked.

"N0. 1'm n0t h3r3 t0 t4k3 y0u b4ck." Naruto said. He looked towards Sasuke before returning his gaze to Zabuza. "4nd 1'm n0t h3r3 t0 k1ll y0u 31th3r unl3ss 1 h4v3 t0."

"S0 wh0 d03s H3 w4nt t0 k1ll m3 w1th, th3n?"

"Th0s3 tw0," Naruto responded before walking away. "1 w0n't 1nt3rf3r3 unl3ss 1 h4ve t0."

"Tch. C0cky 4s 3v3r," Zabuza muttered to himself.

During the whole dialogue between Naruto and Zabuza, Sasuke was disturbed. He was disturbed by how they spoke a language that had no known name. But he was greatly disturbed by the fact that he knew what they said.

Sakura, however, had other intentions. In a pink flash, she had moved up to Zabuza and slashed at him. In a speed that seemed unreal for a sword that large, Zabuza had parried the sword attack away.

"Haruno-san," Zabuza smiled, "you're so slow." Pushing her sword away, he swung at her. She blocked the slash but was forced back several meters.

"For someone as fabled as you, you're so weak!" the man yelled. Using only one arm, he stabbed and slashed at Sakura with speed that Sasuke deemed as unnatural. He entered a ready stance, but Sakura yelled at him to stop.

"Zabuza is dangerous! Let me handle him!" she gritted her teeth did her best to find an opening. Angrily, Sasuke let his sword rest at his side.

Sakura knew that she was fighting a losing battle. Zabuza was stronger and faster than her. She could take a hit and then defeat him in one blow. However, the length of the blade made it difficult to reach Zabuza fast enough. Along with his incredible speed, she would probably be hit again before she could reach him. Also, any time she tried to get close, Zabuza would get away as quick as she got near him. Reaching into her pouch on her side, she pulled out a kunai and threw it.

Zabuza dodged it before it reached the middle of its travel, confirming her theory on Zabuza's speed. But it was enough for an opening. Rushing in, she delivered a slash to him, drawing blood. However, he showed no pain, as if the strike was no more than a pinprick.

"It's nice to see that you can at least block my strikes and make me bleed," Zabuza said as he slowly walked nearer. "But playtime ends here." Grasping the hilt with his other hand, he swung his sword in a horizontal arch. Putting all her might into blocking it, she blocked his giant sword at its tip.

Her sword broke from the force and Zabuza's blade made a deep gash in her right shoulder. It tore pieces of her shirt off, revealing a bit of her upper chest. She cried and stumbled back before falling onto her back. Holding onto her wound, she tried to stand up, but Zabuza's shadow stopped her in her tracks.

"Goodbye, Haruno." Sakura closed her eyes as she expected to die on his blade.

A gust of wind and a clash of metal before her caused her to open her eyes. Sasuke stood in front of her, blocking Zabuza's blade and keeping it mere inches away from her neck.

"Sakura, go to Konohamaru and see if he knows any healing jutsus," he coldly said.

"Haruno-dono, please," she cringed.

"I don't care. Just go. That is an order." Sakura bowed her head before standing up and running to where they last knew where Konohamaru was. However, halfway through, she turned around to see Sasuke fight.

("Tch. Wh4t 4 J31g4n," Naruto said. Walking up to Sakura, he said, "You're lucky I know some healing jutsus." Doing several hand seals, his hands glowed green before he began to patch up her shoulder.)

"So, the Uchiha Sasuke wishes to cross blades with me?" Zabuza joked. "That makes my job all the more enjoyable."

"We'll see if it's enjoyable or not," Sasuke remarked.

Right now, Sasuke was angry. He broke a promise that he made not even twenty-four hours ago. By watching from the sidelines, he couldn't even help her.

He pushed chakra into the Chidori, causing it to crackle and scream like a thousand birds. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he leapt back and drew himself in a ready position. He was ready to defend.

His instincts, however, told him to attack. Closing his eyes, he turned his sword over, the sharp blade now on the outside.

He opened his eyes and rushed in. He raised the Chidori above his head before bringing it down. Zabuza brought his blade up to block, but was shaking as he felt the force of the blade.

Sasuke didn't know what made this battle so difficult for Sakura. His opponent moved as fast as he did. In fact, it felt as if he was moving faster than Zabuza. Sasuke withdrew his sword and backed away. If he truly was faster than Zabuza…

Sasuke raised his sword so that it was eyelevel with him. He rushed in and stabbed for Zabuza's heart.

Blood spilled on the floor as Sasuke's Chidori pierced through Zabuza's body. His body went limp. But he smiled before doing so. "1 gu3ss… wh4t H3 w4nts… H3 g3ts…" and Zabuza breathed his last.

Pulling his sword out of the body, Sasuke cleaned it and walked away. The mist slowly lifted.

"Nice job there," Naruto appeared next to him, holding onto a person.

"What do you want from us?" Sasuke was still angry. "How's Sakura?" Sasuke couldn't help but get a feeling that Naruto had helped her in some way.

"She's fine." Naruto waved the question away. "As for your other question, I just want something to do. I've been traveling around and whatnot, so I guess I just go with the flow of stuff, you know?"

"Whatever."

"Anyway, I've got to take care of a few things." Naruto lifted the person up and tapped him awake. The man opened his eyes before looking at Naruto in pure terror.

"Don't kill me! Please!"

"Don't worry, we won't." Naruto turned to Sasuke. "What do you want to tell your brother?"

"What?"

"Don't you know the drill? You leave the last guy alive and have him carry your message of doom to his master, like 'I'm going to beat the shit out of you' and the likes."

"Oh. Um… okay. Here's one." Sasuke turned to the man. "Tell my brother that I'm going to kill him."

"No! You've got to sound better than that!"

"Ah… Tell my brother that I'm going to kick his ass?"

"Say it like you mean it!"

Caught up in the moment, Sasuke yelled, "Tell my brother that I'm going to beat the living daylights out of him so hard, that he'll feel it when he's dead!" He was ticked off enough already. He did not need Naruto pestering him to taunt his brother.

"There we go!" Naruto yelled. He then turned to the man he was holding. "Now go tell your master that." And he pushed him away, watching the man run away from the field of battle. He turned to see that Sasuke had already left him.

"Excellent. Now, just one more thing." Walking over to Zabuza, he watched as the body slowly disappeared into a mist before evaporating in the sunlight. Grasping the large sword, he lifted it with ease and slung it over his shoulder. Taking his sword, he bit his thumb and spread some blood on the blade.

Muttering several words, he slashed at the air and watched as the blood hung and opened up, revealing a fiery center.

Stepping in, Naruto vanished from the field. The portal disappeared from sight.

* * *

(1) Ueru - rough translation of 'grow.' Heh. Kind of reminds me of Power Rangers...

PLEASE READ IF YOU FELT THAT NARUTO WAS OOC: The reason whyI made Naruto act like he did was because I wanted to make any situation in this chapterwhere he interacts with the other characters awkward. I will further explain why when I get around to going more in depth about Naruto's charcter.


	6. Suspicion

Another month, another chapter. Thanks for all of your support. It really makes writing fics that much more fun.

Anyways, response!

Shinkouhren: I'm not sure about the spelling, but yes, it is the Fuuenken, although it will have a different name in this fic. Like Sasuke's sword is based off of the Furaiken, but I called it Chidori to tie it in more with the Naruto world.

Lone Sakura: I'm kind of leaning towards making at least one lemon, although I'm not too sure about that. Limes, though, is something that will have to be includedI think. Sorry. I'll post warnings aboutthem if I must.

Sephynarutocloud: I'm not too sure if pimp is the correct term to use to describe Naruto, although I can understand why you may think so. However, you will discover exactly why Naruto can't become much of a pimp later (two or three chapters).

Konodraike: Yes, they were speaking a very watered down version of 1337. Basically, I only replaced a, e, i, and o with numbers.

Yami no Katon Karura: Happy belated birthday!

Kikuchou: I go into explaining why Naruto smokes a bit more this chapter, although ultimately it will be explained in two or three chapters. Oh, and you spelled smoker wrong. But for your sake, their is more interaction between Naruto and Hinata.

* * *

Chapter 6: Suspicion 

Strutting down the path, Naruto had his own sword in its sheath. He had a cigarette in his mouth, carelessly smoking. In his right hand, he carried Zabuza's blade over his shoulder. On either side of him, great flames roared, licking the air. They cast their light onto the path, but the surrounding areas remained dark. It was as if the darkness itself fed off of the light.

He could hear screams emanating from the fires. Voices of those who failed the test on Judgment Day.

The poor bastards.

Oh well, he had a job to do. Ignoring the cries of agony, he walked farther down the path until he reached a giant gate, a large lock in front of it. Stopping, he withdrew his sword from the sheath. In a fluid motion, he stabbed it into the lock. It closed around his sword and a small beam of light emanated from the lock before it disappeared. Withdrawing the sword, he put it away and pushed open the gate.

Taking a breath, he stepped into the city of Hell. As soon as the gates closed, the hellish screams desisted. The place looked very much like a capital of a shinobi kingdom, minus a hospital. The walls surrounding the city were made of stone while the other buildings were constructed to match the manner of the human world. Walking down the street to his destination, he watched as pairs of eyes stared at him. They knew who he was. No one in Hell forgets a face easily.

'_I don't belong here. It's been too long since I had to leave,' _Naruto thought to himself. His memories of this place were filled with pain, as he had been an outcast because of his feelings on particular subjects very early in his life here. However, the fact that he was able to attract most of the demonesses, as well as the most powerful one, made him become disliked even more by the male population. Setting his eyes on his destination, he continued down the path to the tallest building in the city.

When he reached the tower, the doors automatically opened for him, revealing to him an elevator (it is predicted that the humans would invent it in about a decade). He approached it and watched the doors slowly slide open. Making sure that Zabuza's blade would fit inside, he walked in and pressed one of the only two buttons available, the one that pointed up.

He felt the machine slowly pulling him up before accelerating (it was an express elevator, something humans would invent in two decades). It slowed down as it reached the top.

Ding

The express elevator opened and Naruto stepped out, still smoking his cigarette, still clutching Zabuza's sword. The room was a throne, a red carpet leading up to a chair located a few steps above the floor. He approached the chair before bowing.

"N4rut0-kun, 1t 1s n1ce t0 s33 y0u 4g41n," a slithery voice said.

"G00d d4y, 0r0ch1m4ru-s4m4," Naruto replied. In front of him sat Orochimaru, the equivalent of the devil. He wore a white suit with a black tie (those would come into fashion in about fifty years). His eyes had a purple shadow to it. Naruto had asked him why he wore it while he still lived in Hell, but Orochimaru simply replied that he was born with them.

"1 s33 th4t y0u h4v3 br0ught Z4buz4's sw0rd t0 m3."

"H3 0rd3r3d m3 t0 d0 s0."

"1 s33. V3ry w3ll, w3 sh4ll t4k3 th3 sw0rd b4ck th3n." Orochimaru clapped his hands, and two servants took the sword away, taking it to who knew where. "H4v3 y0u c0m3 t0 s33 h3r?" he asked.

"N0," Naruto replied. "0ur r3l4t10nsh1p 1s 0n3 th4t m0st l1k3ly w1ll n0t l4st. 1 m34n, 1 h4v3 b33n b4n1sh3d fr0m H3ll 4nd f0rc3d t0 l1v3 0n w1th hum4ns. S331ng h0w sh3 c4n 0nly v1s1t dur1ng 4 m1ss10n, 1t w1ll b3 t00 d1ff1cult t0 k33p 1n t0uch. W3'r3 3v3n tw0 d1ff3r3nt b31ngs!"

"Sh3 kn0ws th4t, but w41ts 0nly f0r y0u."

Naruto became frustrated. "1 t0ld h3r t0 m0v3 0n w1th h3r l1f3! W3 h4v3 n0 futur3 t0g3th3r."

"Sh3 h4s b3s33ch3d m3 t0 b4n1sh h3r 4s w3ll s0 th4t sh3 c0uld b3 w1th y0u, d3sp1t3 0bv10us d1ff3r3nc3s. H0w3v3r, 1 d3cl1n3d 34ch t1m3 0n y0ur b3h4lf."

"G00d. Sh3 sh0uld kn0w th4t w3 h4v3 n0 ch4nc3 t0g3th3r. G00d d4y, 0r0ch1m4ru-s4m4." Naruto turned and walked to the elevator, signifying that their conversation had come to an end.

He left the way he came: down the elevator, through the street, through the gate, into the Pit, through the path, until he found the portal he entered from.

With a heavy heart, he left Hell.

**_River Border_**

Uchiha Sasuke took a deep breath before doing his best to let it out in a calm manner.

The mist had lifted itself and he was finally able to survey the battlefield. It was not pretty. Bodies littered the green grass, the blood dying it a brownish red. The some corpses had arrows sticking out of their body. Others had some rips in their flesh or pieces of their body missing. More had died in a peaceful-looking manner.

But the most had died from a single clean slash wound, obvious signs that Naruto carried them through this battle. Swallowing, he searched for Sakura. The shoulder wound, although most likely minor, seemed very deep.

She was bleeding. Lots.

And she seemed to be in much pain.

He really had to stop exaggerating things. It was a shoulder wound, for crying out loud! Those don't bleed much. If it were deep, her arm would have been hanging off of a piece of flesh instead of staying jointed. And pain was something Sakura was used to.

So why was he so worried?

…

Ignoring the thought, Sasuke looked around for any flash of pink.

There.

Running, he headed to where the pink was. "Sakur-"

"What makes you think you could do that, Kiba?" Maeka interrupted Sasuke. She didn't know of course; her back was turned toward him. She had a mortified blush.

"Look, we were in the heat of a battle. We had no time to simply wait for you to get onto Akamaru, so shut the hell up bitch. Oh, don't look at me like that. I said that I would make it up to you, boy," Kiba said. He looked away, almost refusing to make eye contact with her. He had a faint blush dancing on his cheeks.

"Well you didn't have to touch my ass! You could have lifted me by my feet, even my waist!"

"Okay, I admit that I wasn't thinking straight at that moment."

"So then what the hell were you thinking, asshole? Trying to sneak a look at me from beneath, pervert?"

That was the last Sasuke heard from the conversation because he began to walk away, growling and muttering something about too much pink hair. He only hoped that someone would step up to stop them before it came to blows. Right as he was about to continue his search, he heard her voice.

"Uchiha-sama!" Sakura ran towards him. "Uchiha-sama, are you alright?" She seemed to be in a somewhat stable (non-teaching) mindset, so he conversed with her.

"I'm fine. How about you, Sa- I mean- Haruno-dono? Did Konohamaru take care of your wound?" he asked. He noticed that her shirt no longer sported the tear in the fabric; she must have changed her top after getting fixed up.

"Actually, Naruto did that," Sakura tapered off. Sasuke scowled. This Naruto person was powerful and dangerous. He didn't give much information about himself or his motives for joining him. For all Sasuke knew, Naruto could be after his head. And judging from his skill, he could very well take it.

"How are the others? Are they fine?" Sasuke changed the subject.

"They're fine. No wounds besides a few cuts and scratches. Naruto was able to kill most of them before they posed a real threat to us."

"I suppose that's good…" Sasuke took in a deep breath. He had been avoiding this subject, or perhaps he was a bit afraid. But he had to do it now. "Um… about two nights ago…"

"Hm?"

"I… I want to apologize about what I said," Sasuke said. He did his best to keep his voice straight. "I was angry that night and snapped." He bowed a little before quickly straightening his back.

"No, Uchiha-sama, it was I who stepped out of line. We shouldn't have played that trick on you. I'm sorry," Sakura said before bowing lower than he did.

"You don't have to apologize, I stepped out of line."

"No, no, _I_ stepped out of line."

"But _I_ did something stupid that night."

"But we should have-"

"Stop apologizing! I won't accept it when you're not at fault!"

"But I _am_ at fault!"

"Well then, as your lord I command you to stop apologizing!"

Sakura opened her mouth to continue but closed it. "Yes, Uchiha-sama," she quietly said.

"Good. Come with me. I have a feeling that we'll need to separate your cousin from Kiba before she kills him," Sasuke said. Sakura nodded before following after him. She hung her head low and gave a sigh.

"What's wrong, Haruno-dono?" Sasuke said, turning to her.

"Oh… It's nothing," Sakura lied.

Then she remembered why she wanted to talk to him in the first place. "Uchiha-sama?"

"Yes, Haruno-dono?" Sasuke said, continuing to walk.

"When you were fighting Zabuza… what was going through your mind?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Obviously, you were not using the Haruno Style. What made you give it up for the manner that you attacked in?"

"Well… I don't know. It felt like my instincts just told me to go on the offensive. And I did."

"Do you remember watching your brother train his swordsmanship with your father?" She really did not want to mention his brother, but she needed to in order to confirm her hunch.

"… No." Sasuke spat. The mere mention of Itachi still set him aflame with anger. Calming down a bit, he continued. "My father and… Itachi always trained away from me to prevent me from learning to Uchiha Style."

"So you've never seen it?" Sakura asked.

"Never. Why?"

"Well… the last one. The stab you killed Zabuza with."

"What about it?"

"That was an Uchiha Style technique."

Sasuke stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face her.

"What?"

"It's true."

"How would you know?"

"Before all this happened, I was the representative of the Haruno house, being the strongest in it. Your father once invited me to watch a training session between him and your brother. I saw Itachi use that strike before. He almost killed your father that day."

"Well it doesn't matter now. What matters now is that we separate your cousin from Kiba." And Sasuke began to run towards the mentioned pair (Maeka had just lunged at Kiba and tackled him to the ground). Sakura followed close behind him.

**_Elsewhere_**

As soon as Naruto stepped back into the human realm, the tiny fox felt his lazy presence. As soon as he could, he leapt off of a distracted Hinata's shoulder and bounded after him as fast as his legs could carry.

So it was no wonder when Kitsune-chan located Naruto within a minute. As soon as it did, the small fox took on a happy demeanor and crouched low on its front legs, wagging its tail at a fast pace.

"Aren't you happy to see me," Naruto replied. Wearing a small smile, he bent down a bit and scratched behind the fox's ears. After reappearing on the grassy side of the river where Zabuza fell, he quickly relocated himself to the forest on the opposite side.

It gave a small, happy yelp.

"I suppose you want your payment?"

The animal summon could barely contain its joy.

"Well you did earn it. Just to warn you though, this may feel weird. Not painful, just weird. It might still feel a bit strange after it's done, but you'll get used to it. Now, close your eyes."

The small fox did so. Naruto closed his eyes and muttered several words in his native language. He then quickly opened them and snapped his fingers, pointing towards the small fox.

"…"

"…"

The small fox continued to stare at Naruto, sitting on its haunches.

"And we're done!" Naruto said. He began to walk past the small animal summon, but it gave off a small confused growl. Naruto turned around.

"What? Don't believe me? Take a look."

The small fox took a look at its body.

Well, it couldn't distinguish too much. But the grass blades seemed to be shorter. It wasn't much shorter (the grass around him reached about half his standing height), but it was better nonetheless. However, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. His fur color had not changed, his paws were the same, and his snout (as far as it could tell), was the same. It gave one more saddened glance over its body, counting every part of body.

One head, four feet, two eyes, two ears, countless hairs, two tails, countless teeth, and –

…

Hey!

He had two tails!

Upon recognizing the new feature, he immediately stood up on his four legs and turned his head around to get a closer look at his tails, thus turning his body.

He did it again.

And again…

And again…

And-

"That's enough now. You'll never catch your own tails until they get really long. And then you'll realize that doing so has no point, so hurry back to Hinata. She's probably worried sick about where you are," Naruto said. "I'll give you a head start as to make it seem like you got lost. Or chased after a rabbit. Or something."

Kitsune-chan gave a small yelp of affirmation before bounding away, enjoying the feeling of being slightly taller.

Naruto simply pulled out a cigarette and started smoking. He slowly began to count to two hundred.

The small fox had pinpointed Hinata's smell. Weaving through the mess of bodies and blood, he leapt into her arms and sneaked a quick lick onto her cheek, wagging his tails a bit. She petted his head a bit.

"Where did you disappear to? You just leapt off my shoulder and then disappeared." Hinata had her Byakuugan activated, having used it to look for the small kitsune.

The small fox simply smiled.

She smiled a bit. Something had changed in the small kitsune. She noticed that it had gotten a bit bigger but she felt like she was missing something. She moved her hand along the small animal summon's back and stopped at its haunches. Hinata noticed that Kitsune-chan had two tails.

She almost dropped him out of surprise. "When did you get two tails? I thought you only had one!"

The animal summon in question simply wagged them faster, as if he was happy for someone to have noticed. He licked her cheek again and leapt back onto her shoulder, back onto his resting place.

"Well, I guess it just confirms Konohamaru-kun's guess." Hinata looked at the seal on her right forearm once again.

Just what the hell was going on?

That wasn't truly important though. Right now, she saw Neji and Konohamaru supporting a tired-looking Tenten. She would have gone over to help, but she spotted Kiba and Maeka fighting again with her Byakuugan, so she ran to help break it up.

"Crazy bitch!" Kiba yelled while dodging. It was obvious that he was on the defensive, almost afraid to strike back at the pink-haired rogue. Rushing over, Hinata spotted Prince Sasuke and Sakura running towards the pair to separate them. However, before the three could reach them, Kiba had almost tripped over a rock. Using this moment, Maeka lunged forward and tackled him to the ground.

"I'll teach you some manners!" Maeka yelled as she began to beat Kiba into the ground. Akamaru latched onto Maeka's arm, but she easily shook him off. However, before she could land a third punch, she felt two pairs of strong arms reach under her arms and quickly restraining them. "Let me at him!" she yelled, straining against her captors.

"Maeka, what's going on here?" Sakura said.

"This asshole copped a feel of my… my…" Maeka paused, a red blush adorning her cheeks. "He groped me!"

Sakura turned to him. "You WHAT?"

"Haruno-dono, please. We need to-" Sasuke began. But he was cut off as Sakura quickly whirled around.

"That's Sakura-sensei to you, damn it! As for you…" she said to Kiba, who suddenly wished that he were some place else. Sakura simply ended her statement with the cracking of her knuckles. She went low and started to punch Kiba in the face. "Don't even think about touching her!"

There was no way Sasuke could help Kiba now. He was able to suppress Maeka, but both of the Pinkheads were another story. Thankfully, Hinata had rushed to the scene and quickly disabled Sakura before she could do anymore damage to poor Kiba, sending the crazed teacher unconscious. Sasuke, glad that she was out of the way for now, quickly lifted Maeka to her feet before unceremoniously pushing her away from a bruised Kiba.

"Kasen, Inuzuka, this is your last warning. I don't care if you're my sensei's cousin, I don't care if you are skilled on the battlefield. If I catch either of you causing possible physical harm to each other, I will kill you both," Sasuke seethed. Kiba and Maeka looked silently at Sasuke as he walked away.

"Come on," Sasuke said, his back turned to them, "we need to collect these crests. We'll sell them and split the money between ourselves."

* * *

The collecting was on schedule. On schedule was good. Very good. 

Of course, Naruto was nowhere to be found. That was bad. Very bad.

What if Naruto had ditched them after helping them out in one battle? As much as Sasuke didn't want to admit, he was stronger than he was.

Sighing, Sasuke knelt down to pick up another crest from the ground.

The fact that Sakura hadn't said much about Naruto worried him. What if he was a spy sent by his brother?

Sakura still had return to consciousness though. Hinata seemed to have hit her fairly hard to knock her out for so long.

He was worried. How couldn't he be? His teacher and most trusted bodyguard wasn't guarding him right now. Also, she was not in the best of condi-

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?"

Sasuke jumped and turned around to meet the blue eyes of Naruto. And a face full of smoke

His first reaction was to act strong and cough a bit from the haze. "No." Sasuke quickly denied. Wanting to change the subject, he said, "I never knew you smoked."

Naruto smirked. "Well now you do. And don't lie to me. I can read you like a scroll."

Sasuke ignored him and continued to pick up crests from the fallen bodies.

"…"

"…"

"Sakura's dead."

"What?" Sasuke turned to him only to see a large (Sasuke added the adjective foxish, knowing very well that it was not a word and that he could have used foxy but that felt too weird for him) grin.

"Gotcha. I think you like her."

Sasuke blushed a tiny bit before turning away. There was no way in hell that this guy would trick him again. "That was not funny, Naruto."

"It wasn't supposed to be funny. Sakura is fine and she should be waking within the hour."

"I do not like her."

"Of course you do."

"No, I don't."

"Don't lie to yourself."

"I do not like her, okay?" Sasuke turned around and yelled at Naruto. "She is simply my bodyguard. No more, no less."

"Alright then. Deny it. But trust me. This will get harder with each passing day. You constantly be in close proximity with her and then things might get ugly," Naruto warned, walking away, taking puffs from his cigarette. Sasuke simply resumed collecting crests.

But he was now plagued by even more thoughts.

As for Naruto, he simply walked around, absentmindedly smoking. He didn't exactly know why he started smoking. It was bad for his health; he knew that very well. But when he took what he was into consideration, it didn't really matter. So he just kept smoking. All he knew was that there was some guy called Asuma involved.

"Na-Naruto-kun."

He turned around.

It was Hinata. "Hi," he nonchalantly said. Naruto watched as she did her best to gather her courage.

He looked so different when compared to being far away. His face seemed toradiate happiness and beauty. She noticed that he wore a necklace with a stone at the end. It looked like it was made from something not found on earth, its crystal blue-green color drawing her in. she averted her eyes from the necklace and to his face.

"I… I know that y-you were in the forest talking with Kitsune-chan last night."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I-I saw you. I know I did."

Naruto smiled his foxy smile. "Oh, I get it. Why, if I weren't so smart, I'd have thought you were hitting on me."

"Th-That's not what I mean!" Hinata yelled, her face turning scarlet. "You w-were in the forest, and you were talking to K-Kitsune-chan. And you had two fox ears… And t-tails! N-Nine of them!"

Naruto walked up to her and put the back of his hand against her head.

"W-What are you doing?" she nervously asked, deeply blushing.

"I'm checking if you have a fever. But you seem okay, so I guess you're just making all this up." He pulled his hand back. Hinata looked hurt.

"Look, I know this sounds mean but… maybe you should see a doctor for this," he said, trying to make her feel a bit better.

"B-But…"

He didn't like emotionally hurting people. He really didn't. It went against everything he had been taught during the many years it took him to grow up. But he couldn't tell her the truth. Not yet.

But he could try to allude to it, couldn't he? Give her the benefit of the doubt?

"And even then, you should mind your own business."

She felt like she was going to cry.

"But… being a shinobi, it's kind of your job to snoop around. So far, I think you've done a good job," Naruto said.

She looked up.

He started to walk away.

"Just learn to read underneath the underneath and keep your findings to yourself."

* * *

Eventually, Sakura had awoken and the group crossed the river, stepping into Rock Territory. They went towards the direction of the Rock Kingdom's capital. The surroundings became rockier until they reached a small patch of trees, where they decided to set up camp. 

It was nighttime after the battle with Zabuza and his men.

It was the quietest meal they ever had. Barely anyone talked. Everyone was too focused on what had transgressed that day.

Ninety-nine of Konoha's shinobis and a valuable commander had been killed at the hands of ten people.

All of them were looking at Naruto, who was eating with a thoughtful look, paying no attention to them. They were all staring with great intensity. So intense, that Hinata did not even know that Kitsune-chan had left her shoulder.

After having eaten some pieces of meat that she gave him, he was now slowly wandering close to the fire. He was curious and wanted to see what it exactly was, but Hinata wouldn't let him get close.

But now was his chance. Slowly, he walked closer and closer to the steady flame.

A branch in the fire cracked and sent sparks flying outwards, startling the small two-tailed fox and making him scurry back to Hinata. Leaping into the air, he landed on her chest, knocking her out of her reverie and focusing on him.

She let out a surprised cry and almost didn't catch him in time. Of course, this attracted everyone else's attention. Doing her best to ignore the stares, she gently petted the trembling fox.

And then someone noticed it.

"Hey, that fox has two tails!" Maeka said out loud. And then everyone was looking at the fox.

Naruto, of course, was still out in his own little world.

There was much squabble about the scared fox's two tails. Almost everyone had gone up to pet it, causing the panic in the small fox to multiply and he shrank into Hinata's arms even further, shaking uncontrollably. Konohamaru, however, told the group to stay back. "The only way this fox could have gained another tail is if the Kyuubi no Kitsune gave it to him."

"What's that?" Maeka asked.

"A demon."

Naruto flinched at the word of demon.

"Touching this fox could kill you." The silence that settled afterwards was tense. Konohamaru walked over to Hinata. "Did the fox give you a seal?"

Hinata nodded her head.

"Show me please."

She gently set the small fox down (who immediately hopped into the hood of her sweater) and she pulled back the sleeve, revealing her right forearm.

"I thought so. You've been given the seal," Konohamaru said grimly.

"W-What does it mean?" Hinata nervously asked.

"I'm not too sure yet, but from what my gramps knows, this seal seems to attract bad luck."

Silence filled the glade they were in once more.

"I say we call it a night," Sasuke said, doing his best to break the tension. "We've had a tough day and I think it would be best for us to rest."

"Who will be night watch though?" Kiba said.

"I'll do it."

Everyone turned to look at Naruto. "I'm not particularly tired, so I'll do it." He got up and walked away, already on the job. _'I hate that word...'_

"We'll we need two so-"

"I'll join him too!" Sakura quickly said, standing up. She put on a quick smile.

Silence.

"Sakura-sensei…" It pained Sasuke for him to use that name in front of everyone, "You don't even have a sword."

"Are you saying that I can't take care of myself?" she said. He could feel anger rolling off of her.

"N-No. I have full confidence in you," he quickly said.

"Good." And Sakura walked away.

Sasuke turned to the rest of the group. "I think you guys should rest. You had a hard day on the battlefield." Complying, everyone but Hinata went to his or her individual tents. She stayed in front of the fire.

Kitsune-chan had crawled out of her hood and was once again sitting on her shoulder. He could sense that something was saddening her. Had he done something wrong? Carefully, he leaned over and gave Hinata a gentle lick. Smiling, she gently picked him off of her shoulder and cradled his body. Staring into his eyes, she said, "I don't care if you gave me this curse or not. You're my pet, and I will take care of you."

She got up and put out the fire (much to Kitsune-chan's delight) and set off for her tent.

Hinata noticed that Sasuke did not head for his tent. "U-Uchiha-sama, you should get some rest. You s-said so yourself."

"I'll do so later. I've got to keep an eye on Sakura and Naruto. I don't trust him yet, and Sakura doesn't have a sword."

"Oh… O-Okay then." She entered her tent and Sasuke set out to follow Naruto.

* * *

I need your opinion on something. I've been thinking about it for a while and I want your input.

Should I put one of two Naruto stories that I am writing on hold and focus on the other one, or should I continue with what I'm doing right now, switching back and forth between each one?


	7. Rising Pressure

Eh heh... yeah. This chapter took longer than I thought. I originally had intentions on making it longer but it felt like the chapter was already complete where it stands, so I will end the chapter here.

Reviews!

XyoushaX: Yes, I did write Encyclopedia Ninja. Yes, I am usually very busy (I just had SAT's this morning).

Lone Sakura: I'm not sure on whether or not I will have lemons, but this fic will contain limes. Or semi-limes. And just so you know, limes are somewhat adult situations (lots of kissing, touching, etc) but no hardcoresex involved.

Kikuchou: Thanks for reminding me on having Hinata ask Konohamaru about the Kyuubi. It's not in this chapter, but it will be in eventually!

To those who asked for more NaruHina stuff: Yayz

Note: After careful consideration, I will be putting Product Shinobi on hold and will work almost exclusively on Uchiha Crest. It's just easier this way.

I do not own Naruto or Guilty Gears

Onward!

Note: There is some slight swearing as well assemi-limish thoughts.

PS: I have a challenge for those looking for one. Lookin my profile for it.

* * *

Chapter 7: Rising Pressure 

The first thing he did was cover up his chakra signature. This Naruto fellow could be dangerous, and he had to be cautious if he was to avoid detection. Being as careful as he could, he silently tiptoed after Naruto, his feet gently treading the ground.

"So… three people…"

Sasuke stopped in mid step. That was Naruto, unless he was mistaken.

"Fire started in closet… uh huh…"

What the hell was he talking about? Three people? For all Sasuke knew, there were no closets in the area, just a lot of trees. Unless Naruto was planning to set fire to there hiding spot, it could only be interpreted as pointless jargon. Sasuke went to get a closer look to see whom Naruto was talking to, only to find out that it was a small whitish box thing. He had never seen such an object in his life.

It sounded like he was writing them down for future reference.

"Bandit raid… propaganda…"

Seriously, what was going on here?

"Okay, I'll do it when we get there," and Naruto put the box-thing away.

Sasuke decided to approach him. "Wh4t w4s th4t?" Sasuke said in Naruto's language.

Naruto gave a smirk. "I'm guessing that your father taught you that language?"

"What if he did?" Sasuke said. The truth was that his father had taught him the language after he was selected to become king.

"It's a very old one."

"…"

"…"

"I don't trust you," Sasuke said bluntly.

Naruto pulled out a cigarette and reached for his sword, only to stop and redirect his hand to his pocket where he pulled out a lighter and lit his cigarette. He took a breath and then blew out a small cloud of smoke. "You don't have to."

"How can you be so flippant about this? When you joined this group, you pledged your life to my survival. This trust thing isn't bothering you?" Sasuke said.

"It doesn't matter."

"Why not? What if I decided to kill you right now?"

"You're not going to," he lazily said.

"How do you know?"

"I know because, hidden by your distrust, is your fear of me. If you're afraid of me, then there is no way for you to kill me or your brother."

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"Maybe."

"I am not a coward!" In a burst of rage, Sasuke drew out his Chidori and lunged at Naruto.

For a brief moment, Naruto recalled his old friend.

By the time Sasuke had reached him, the Chidori was no longer in his hands, but against his own neck. But not only was he holding the sword, it looked different as well. No longer was it just like a regular katana, but it had grown in length, its blade a bluish white. The hilt was now blue and extended upwards and looked almost like a circle.

Sasuke was both shocked and afraid.

"You see? If you're afraid, you can't kill. Feel the back of your neck."

He did so.

It was cold.

"That is the sweat of fear." Naruto returned Sasuke's blade with a pat on his back and began to walk away. "You can't have that on you when you face your brother, because he's not afraid of you."

He took another puff of his cigarette. "I'm going to continue night watch. You might want to check up on your little crush." At her reference, he snapped out of his reverie.

"She is _not_ my crush. She's just my bodyguard," Sasuke seethed. Naruto scoffed.

"Go to her, and see if you can tell me that tomorrow. She's over there, in case you want to know." Naruto pointed towards the east.

With a grumble, Sasuke left Naruto.

Just how was he able to turn the Chidori into what it was before? Sasuke idly turned his blade over. The only change he remembered it going through was that it was once a regular katana before it changed itself into a Haruno katana.

So what was that? Some higher level of power he had yet to achieve with it?

Screw figuring out how to change it into a double-edge sword.

He should figure out just how Naruto was even able to take a hold of his sword.

But finding Sakura beat both by a long shot. Walking to the east, he took quiet steps once more until he found her.

She was walking around, as a normal night guard should do.

Sasuke noted, however, that she was walking in circles around trees instead of the camp. Sasuke immediately went to her to see if she was trapped in a genjutsu.

Forming a seal, he quietly said "Kai!" and checked for any changes.

None.

Which meant that she was walking in circles by herself.

Which meant that something was wrong. He silently began to tail her. He could hear her shaky breaths, as if she would suddenly collapse and start bawling. "You're doing this to protect the prince… protect the prince…" she continually repeated to herself as she walked in circles.

'_She's tired,'_ he thought to himself. _'I said it was a bad idea for her to do night watch.'_

"Just have to protect Uchiha-sama and things will be fine…" he heard her barely whisper.

She must not have seen the root protruding from the ground because she tripped, and fell flat on her face.

As Sasuke quietly moved towards her, she began to cry. Her body was shaking uncontrollably now, sobs racking her body.

"Who am I kidding … I betrayed them…"

"Haruno-dono."

She quickly looked up and turned around to see him. Tears were slowly born in her eyes and made their way down before dying on her lips. "U-Uchiha-sama?" she turned around in a flash. "W-Wait! Don't look at me. I-I'm a… I'm a mess right now." She did her best to stifle her sobs but failed. She sat up and began to stand.

However, Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder and knelt down. He stared into her eyes, but she turned away. He sighed. She was feeling like a failure again. This failure thing had to stop.

"Sakura," she looked up at him, "you haven't betrayed anybody. You have done your duty as a Haruno in protecting me."

"But… But m-my family-"

"The Haruno family members all swear an oath when they reach the age of ten. They swear that they will protect the Uchihas until their last breath."

"But they were branded as traitors, Uchiha-sama! Traitors! All because of me!" she yelled out loud. Her hands gripped the clothing of her pants in a tight wad. Then, in a timid voice, "D-Do you know what we do with… what we do with traitors?"

Sasuke's face turned grim. "We execute them for committing high treason," he calmly tried to whisper, "You know that."

"I know but… I don't want to believe it." She began to sob again. "They're going to kill everyone."

"…"

"What am I going to do, Uchiha-sama?"

"Sakura…" he tried to calm her.

"The last thing I said to my mother was that I… hated her…"

"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll understand."

"Understand what? That I handed my family over to the executioner?" she continued to sob. "There's nothing to understand. They're going to die and they'll blame me for it…"

"Nobody is blaming you. You did what you felt was right." _'God,'_ Sasuke told himself, _'I feel so stupid for doing this… but I have to.'_

"It's _not_ right!" Sakura burst out, "For all that's happened, I could have just said 'Fuck you, family!' and the results would still be the same!"

He had never heard her use such language before. "You're exaggerating now, Sakura. You've got to calm down." He placed both hands on her shoulders.

She looked into his eyes. "I can't calm down," her quiet voice echoed, a slight sob at the end of the sentence, "I just can't." She let her eyes flow, birthing tears in her eyes.

Sasuke let himself be bold at that moment. Taking a breath, he laced his arms around her body and hugged her close to him.

"U-Uchiha-sama?"

"Shh…" he began to stroke her back.

Sasuke was going out on a limb. His mother did this for him whenever he had cried (which he made sure that he rarely did). He wasn't even sure if this would help her, but he had to do something.

She began to cry onto his shoulder. He could feel her warm tears soaking through the material. Her body shook up and down with her sobs.

And then he felt her arms circle around him, pulling him to her in a needed hug.

And then, as if to purposely screw him over, the little voice in his head repeated to him what he heard moments ago.

_"You might want to check up on your little crush."_

"…"

_"Go to her, and see if you can tell me that tomorrow."_

'_Shit,'_ he thought. _'What have I got myself into?'_

**_The Next Morning_**

"They're not back yet," Konohamaru said.

"Do you think something happened to them?" Maeka quietly said, obviously distressed over her missing cousin.

"I-I think they'll be fine…" Hinata timidly added. Kitsune-chan yawned from his perch on her shoulder and gave a small yip of agreement before turning around and hopping into Hinata's sweater hood.

"They had better be," Neji scowled.

"What if they're not?" Tenten challenged.

"…" Everyone remained quiet.

"Then I guess we're in deep trouble…" Kiba said.

"Good morning everyone."

They all turned their eyes to see Naruto calmly walking in with a deer slung over his shoulder. They also noted how he had a bundle of sticks. Setting both down, he took out a small rectangular thingy (which would come to be known as a lighter in about twenty years), set the sticks in a circle, and started the fire. Of course, everyone was startled to see a flame appear right out of a rectangular thingy, although they decided to hide it.

'_D4mn1t, th1s 1s s0 ann0y1ng t0 d0 w1th0ut my sw0rd…'_ "Do any of you have a frying pan?" Naruto asked. Maeka raised her hand. "Could I borrow it?"

After he received the pan, he cut off a chunk of meat with his sword, seasoned it a little, and started cooking.

"Um… Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, Hinata?"

"What is that?"

He smiled a bit. "Breakfast."

---

He made a promise to himself that he wouldn't fall asleep. Things got quite out of hand after Sakura started to cry on his shoulder, and their safety was top priority.

But the trunk Sasuke was leaning against was just so comfortable for some reason that night.

Originally, his plan was to simply let Sakura… cry herself out, and then he would lead her back to the camp. He would wait for her to sleep, and then he would take up night watch for her.

Of course, his plan failed horribly.

By the time he noticed that she had stopped crying, she had fallen asleep on him. Of course, given their awkward position, any slight movement could awaken her. So he stayed still for a moment.

But his legs began to cramp up. Looking around, he spotted a tree to lean against. Slowly and carefully, he slipped his arms off of her and picked her up. He thought about just heading back to the camp, but then wrote it off. The bounce of walking could stir her.

So he continued with his original plan. Moving to the tree, he set Sakura down before taking a seat against the trunk. And then cautiously, he drew her head onto his lap.

Kind of like their first night out on this journey thing.

And then he woke up. He blinked and rubbed his eyes a bit before wondering what the strange weight on his leg was. So he looked down.

"Uchiha-sama?"

And saw a pair of green eyes looking back at him. He blushed a little.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Outside of camp," he answered.

"Oh…"

"…"

"I… guess we should head back, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah."

"…"

"…"

"…?"

"Um… do you mind getting up from my lap?"

"Oh! Oh… um… excuse me." She fumbled around a bit after getting up.

Was he just imagining it, or did he feel a bit… saddened?

"Where's my sword?"

Had to be his imagination.

"It broke. Remember?"

"Hm…" her head replayed the last moments of her blade in her mind. "I'll have to forge a new one then…"

Deep inside the recesses of his still-groggy mind, he thought up a forge. Sakura was busy folding a piece of hot steel over and over to rid it of impurities and was busy pounding away with a hammer. He wondered how she was able hold the hammer given her delicate arms. The heat from the furnace was red hot and her face was dripping sweat. Her clothes clung damply to her skin and her hair was matted down and tied back.

'_She looks hot,'_ he thought to himself.

Standing up, they both began to walk back to the camp.

Halfway there, Sasuke realized that what he had thought could have been interpreted in two ways. By now, his mind was almost fully awake. If he had been fully awake, he would never have attempted to try to figure out which one. But he wasn't so he did.

She could have looked hot because of her surroundings. Being near a hot forge and banging metal all day would do that to you.

But then, just as he was about to decide, the Sakura in his mind turned to him. She took a deep breath, causing her breasts to rise against her damp shirt. Her mouth hung a bit open and her eyes were half closed. She licked her lips. She reached behind and let her pink hair fall down, the locks cascading down her back.

It was then that he realized that her clothes were a very tight fit. He could almost see the shape of her breasts, every little outline, through her shirt. Oh, and for some reason, her shirt was white as well. Oh yeah, every single detail.

It was a moment before Sasuke realized that he was no longer fantasizing and was instead walking back to the camp with Sakura. He noticed that he was staring at her backside.

God, she was hot, even from behind. Not hot as in hot day hot. Hot as in sexy. Really sexy. If he had a choice, he'd fuck her, without a second thought.

Oh yeah. He'd fuck her brains out.

…

Well, as long as it was consensual, of course. Because otherwise it would be rape, and-

And then he woke up.

He realized what he had just been thinking about for the past several minutes and he blushed embarrassedly. Almost shamefully, he looked down and happened to see that he had an erection.

'_Shit,'_ he thought, _'I don't believe this.'_

'_I can't believe that I want to fuck my teacher.'_

And so, he walked into camp, desperately trying to lie to himself.

"You're back," Naruto calmly said. As Sasuke looked at him he could see a faint glint of mirth in Naruto's eyes. It was as if he knew what was going on inside Sasuke's head.

The entire camp calmed down after seeing their charge was alive and healthy. Maeka leapt up and hugged her cousin and spouted what sounded like a jumbled version of "Oh my god, you're okay."

"Well, sit down, Sasuke. Breakfast is ready." For a moment, everyone looked at Naruto, shocked by his audacity to call the prince by his first name. But no one did anything about it, since they all knew he could end their lives in a heartbeat.

---

"Are we there yet?"

They had been walking for some time now to the Rock Kingdom's capital.

"Shut up, bitch."

It was a bit past midday.

"No, you shut up, asshole!"

That was when they noticed the smoke.

Running down the dirt path, they stopped at the top of the hill and surveyed the damage with Naruto last to arrive.

A town was burnt down to cinders.

"What happened here?" Sasuke asked.

"Bandits," Tenten replied. "At the end of each successful raid, they burn down the village until nothing's left standing."

"Just a team of bandits?"

"No. To burn down a town like this, they're had to be hundreds." Tenten shivered a bit. "It had to be Mizuki's bandits."

Naruto started down towards the town. "We should try to lend a helping hand to the survivors."

"Are you insane?" Sakura yelled out. "We'll get caught!"

He didn't even turn to her before answering her hidden question. "Whether you believe it or not, we're part of a war now. But there's more than one way to win. Right now, we're battling over the hearts and minds of the common people. If we can gain their sympathy and backing then half the war is won."

There was a brief silence before the group followed Naruto down the hill. "You guys head towards the town square and see if you can help them from there. I'll go check for survivors," the blond said. Without questioning him, they did as they were told and headed towards the town square.

As soon as they were out of site, Naruto cast a genjutsu over himself, hiding him from prying eyes. It was a very old, very powerful genjutsu that only his kind could use or dispel. Humans wouldn't be able to see through it. The Byakuugan would only see a haze. Any scent would be scrambled to resemble a repulsive stench. A touch would feel like a gentle breeze. The sound would be reduced to simple whooshing of the wind. The air would taste stale.

The human-proof genjutsu.

And now, the other half. Taking his hands, he made a lengthy series of archaic hand seals before opening his mouth. "Shikaku no Keiyoushi."

Things that did not exist before were now in front of him.

And unlike the call he received earlier on his cell phone (those would come a LOT later in humanity's span), there were more than just three people.

The one closest to him was a little boy, looking no older than five. He looked around confusingly before spotting Naruto. Without a second though, he ran over to him.

"Hi!" the small child called out.

Naruto returned the salutation.

"Where am I?"

"You're in your hometown."

"Oh… What happened here?"

"There was a fire."

"… Are mommy and daddy okay?"

"I don't know. We'll just have to find out… won't we?"

"Yeah!" the child happily said.

Naruto gently stretched out his hand in a kind gesture. The young child eagerly took it and they both began to walk.

After a while the child broke free and started running. "Mommy! Daddy!" He ran towards a fairly young couple with his hands outstretched. He ran and ran.

Until he ran through them. "What?" he said. He looked down at his hands and then at his parents.

If he tried hard enough, he could just barely see the cracks on the ground through his body. "What's happening to me?" He started to break down and cry.

"You must have died," Naruto said. "How else can you pass through them?"

"I'm… I'm dead?" the child mouthed, barely able to comprehend the meaning. He looked up and saw his mother crying and being held by his father.

"Let me guess, you want your parents to not feel so sad?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Well… I have an idea. Go up to them and whisper into their ears that you're going toa happier place."

"O-Okay…" As the child went to them, Naruto channeled his chakra into a warm blanket and gently wafted it around the couple.

"M-Mommy, Daddy… I'm… I'm dead but I'm going somewhere happier now. Please, don't be sad." Saying this, the mother calmed down a bit as she felt Naruto's soothing chakra flow around her. Not knowing what had transgressed, the child walked back to Naruto.

"Feel better?"

The child nodded.

"Okay. We'll be going now." Taking out his sword, Naruto focused his attention on the blade before saying "0p3n, y0u p34rly g4t3s." With a downward slash, a hole was created and he could see Heaven.

He'd like to go with the child, to go back and see Heaven even if it was just for a short while. But he knew he couldn't. He turned to face the child. "Well, you'll have to make the rest of this trip alone from here."

"But… I'm scared."

"Don't worry. Nothing will hurt you in there. Now be brave and go on. I might visit you some time."

"Promise?" the child held up his pinky.

"… I promise." He hooked pinkies and closed the deal. The child calmly walked through the holes before they closed behind him.

There. One down…

Countless more to go.

He sighed.

And not all were going to a happy place.

'_You said there were just three, God.'_

'_Just three…'

* * *

_

Shikaku no Keiyoushi - roughly translates into 'true vision.'

I was going to make it longer but it felt complete here, so I stopped it. Besides, no one seems to like my really long chapters (the 20 pages +ones).


	8. Strength and Weakness

Hehe... sorry for the long wait, but this chapter took me a while. I'm glad that you guys love this. It may not be as popular or good as Encyclopedia Ninja, but I'm enjoying this, so it doesn't matter to me.

Reviews response time (I love this part)!

Dragon Man 180: Hehe... when I posted chapter seven, I didn't realize it was April Fools until I read a fic and fell for the trick.

sephynarutocloud: Sasuke was half awake at the time. You do silly things when you're half awake. Once, I thought my sister was eating a banana when she was really eating a peach.

Anime Lance: Unfortunately, my SAT I scores aren't that great. However, I did score 740 in SAT II Biology.

Mizunezumi: Yes, it was depressing. I don't remember if that was how I wanted to end it, but it felt proper. Besides, this chapter's beginning makes up for it. As for your twenty pages, will fifteen suffice?

RLnaruhina: Thanks. It's been in my head for a while, and I guess it just fell into place.

Raiden no Onna: True, but Tenten and Maeka would have to be archers (or at least ranged units). Speaking of the assassin class, ever notice how there are almost no assassins in the FE series?

Gforce member45: Although it won't follow the game right down to the dot, I plan to take weapons (like Sol and Ky's swords) as well as attack moves (Gun Flame ftw).

Ultimate Shinobi 1: If you want, you can look it up on google. It's Fueenken, Naruto's sword, and Furaiken, Sasuke's sword.

Pyr00tje: Unfortunately, long chapters and quick updates rarely come together.

Note: After this chapter, I will write a chapter for Product Shinobi. I've been itching to write the next chapter for it. But after that I have no idea where it will go.

I do not own Naruto or Fire Emblem.

Onward!

Second note: This hasn't been beta'd yet, so please forgive my mistakes. He hasn't been on AIM recently.

* * *

Chapter 8: Strength and Weakness 

Kakashi strolled into his office. As he entered, a ringing was heard. The walls were made of clouds, and the ceiling and floor made of glass. His desk was filled with buttons of all colors. There was also a screen for viewing. Right now it was focused on a baseball game.

Personally, Kakashi always thought that the term 'Mr. Kami-san' was the stupidest thing in the world. It practically meant Mr. Mr. God. But his superior had instructed him to do call him by that name, so he did.

"Mr. Kami-san, we've… got an interesting situation."

He probably only wanted Kakashi to call him that because it sounded nice.

"Oh, how interesting is it?"

"You've got a call."

"A call? No one has ever called me before…"

"That's what's so interesting about it."

"Oh… How did you know I got a call?"

"Well, there's the ringing noise."

"Oh yes, the ringing."

"…"

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should press one of those buttons?" He was actually just joking about the buttons thing.

"Oh yes, these buttons. The Third God never really told me how to work this contraption… Perhaps this red one." He pressed it and the screen went out. "Oh dear, I was still watching that." He pressed the button again and the screen came back on. "Whew. That could have been bad, right?"

"Mr. Kami-san, couldn't you just-"

"Not now, Kakashi, I'm trying to figure out how to pick up the phone." He pressed a green button. The screen changed to show a world as well as the words "Apocalypse?" with a yes or no selection. "Eh… how about no." He pressed another blue button.

"Self destruct sequence initiated."

"No, no, no! I don't want that!" He pressed the button next to the green one.

"Sequence terminated."

Mr. Kami-san breathed a sigh of relief.

"May I suggest that you just use your god powers to pick it up?"

"Well… I suppose your right." The ringing stopped. "I wonder who's calling…"

* * *

'_C0m3 0n, p1ck up!'_ Naruto thought. The ringing was starting to get on his nerves. God always was lax when dealing with him. It was like he didn't really care. But Naruto couldn't tell anyway, so he just did what he could. 

He was smoking. He always smoked after his job. It was his way of calming down. It let him gain a hold of himself again.

"I wonder who's calling…" the voice on the other end said.

"You said that there were only three."

"Oh. Hello, Naruto. Did I say three, now? I'm pretty sure I said three hundred…"

"Damn it, God! Stop fucking around with me! You know my stance on this subject."

"Oh, you should learn to watch your mouth. Swearing is bad, you know."

"I don't care! I don't want to do this anymore."

"Then you'll have to hand over the Hokage."

"…"

"We've gone over this many times, Naruto. If you don't want to do your job anymore, you'll have to give up your sword."

"…"

"You've got two things going for you. Either you do your job or you quit. And when you quit, no one in Heaven OR Hell will like you. I wouldn't be surprised if the guards refused to let you into either unless you're on special orders. You're at an impasse here."

"I am not going to give up this blade. You've given me a job to help keep this Hyuuga girl safe and now that I'm a part of their company, I have to help the Uchiha get his kingdom back. And I'm going to get through it. But I will not collect any more souls until this is done."

"But only you can do it because only you have the Hokage."

"Then find another way! Make another Hokage."

"Ah, but I don't want to."

"Why not? You're God. You can do anything."

"Because that sword took me too long to think up. I don't want to go around having to think up of another unique sword that has the power of fire."

"But you can make it work out!"

"Yes. I can also kill you right now and get my sword back."

"…"

"You know what you're problem is?"

"What?"

"You need to get laid."

"…Excuse me?"

"You know, find some pretty human girl and screw her brains out. Like that… oh, what's her name? The girl with the-"

"You do know what happens, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you have no objection to that?"

"Well, it's just another pretty girl in Heaven, you know."

"Everyone's pretty in Heaven, whether they were ugly or not in real life. Everyone gets to look how he or she wants. I am not going to get some girl killed just to lose my virginity."

"So you're going to stay a virgin? How many years, then? Do you plan to be a three thousand year old virgin?"

"Well…"

"What about Tsumi?"

"…"

"You still care for her, don't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"Your stand on harvesting human souls is in your way, no? Well what about all the others you've killed? The last battle you killed almost eighty men. Don't tell me you have a disposition towards harvesting souls; you're actually killing people."

"Look. I don't like what I do, okay? But you give me no fucking choice and make me do this."

"Perhaps. But unless you give up the Hokage, you will have to do this work. I'll give you your break, but afterwards I expect you to continue."

"…"

"Anything else you want to talk about?"

"Well, besides the fact that I utterly hate you, our group consists of nine people. We're going to need more than that if we plan to take back a kingdom."

"Don't worry about it. I've already notified the elementals of this job and they will help you out. In fact, two of them should be arriving soon, possibly by tomorrow morning, maybe even tonight."

"Elementals? Like fire and water?"

"Not the four elements, different ones."

"You mean to tell me that there are more than just the four basic elements?"

"Well… there are now. Goodbye, Naruto. I hope to talk to you again."

And the line went dead. Cursing, he turned off his cell phone and put it away. Still distraught over his recent soul collecting, he put his cigarette into his mouth and returned to the town square.

The group was lucky enough to gain the town's trust. It was the first sign to disprove Itachi's claims and affirm their own. The town was also able to provide them with some supplies at a reduced cost. The plan was to stay the night and leave at the break of dawn to the capitol, perhaps a day's walk away. The only thing the town couldn't provide was shelter. But the group carried their own sleeping bags and tents so it was not a problem.

It was nighttime, the only safe time for Naruto to make such a daring call. If he called by day the group could easily find him if he wasn't careful. Besides, Hinata was already suspicious about him.

Approaching the town square, he saw that there was a fire in the middle with the group idling around it. They had managed to persuade the town to let them use the hot springs for bathing so they had washed off the grime and sweat from their travels.

He wondered where Sasuke might have gone, but he knew that Sakura would be nearby. Whether she had a sword or not, she had to be of noteworthy skill if she was the prince's teacher.

He heard some light footsteps. Taking one last puff from his cigarette, he tossed it aside and quashed it before turning around.

It was Hinata, accompanied with Kitsune-chan. The girl with the seal, she was a source of trouble onto him. He'd have to protect her and find a way to hide his identity. With a sigh, he opened his mouth. "Good evening, Hinata. Is something wrong?" he said calmly as he watched the small fox leap off of her shoulders and begin to dance around him.

"I… I heard that you're doing night watch again."

"True."

"Well… it's just that you did night watch last time as well," she timidly said, blushing. She mentally scolded herself, but she knew that she was unable to control it; he was _very_ handsome. "I'm not a doctor but… you need to sleep."

Naruto bent down and began to pet the small fox. It turned over onto its back, exposing its stomach. He ran his hand over the animal's smooth fur. "I'll be alright, Hinata."

"A-Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"But-"

"Hinata, I'm not tired," Naruto gruffly said. Standing up, he began to walk around the camp. She and the small fox ran to catch up with him.

"T-Then at least don't do night watch tonight! Leave it for someone else!"

"Then why don't you do night watch?"

"W-Well…" Hinata trailed off, tapping her fingers.

"Let me guess. You don't want to do it, right?"

"N-No! That's not what I mean!" she burst out. Her hands clenched for a moment before timidly returning to its tapping.

"Then will you do it?"

"…Yes."

Naruto thought for a moment. "How about we do it together?" If she agreed to this, he could do both night watch and keep an eye on Hinata.

Hinata's face began to burn red. "W-With you?"

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?" Naruto coolly replied.

"Umm…" Hinata paused to think. There was no downside, right? She just wouldn't sleep for a night, shouldering a piece of the burden. How hard could it be? "A-Alright."

* * *

Having been the first to offer help to the people and the last to leave them, it was obvious that Uchiha Sasuke needed a wash. Dealing with burnt wood and dead bodies had its way of placing its scent on one's body and clothing. 

He sighed. Never had he seen such destruction caused by mere bandits. If they were capable of doing such damage to a simple town, could they be strong enough to ravage a city like Konoha?

He shuddered at the thought.

He shuddered at the thought of her. Honestly, how could he let himself get that close as to develop such… feelings? It was wrong. So wrong. A prince and his bodyguard. What kind of relationship was this?

Taboo. It was complete and utter taboo. Comparing her rank to his, she was too much of an underling to fall in love with. True, she was a noble, but she was one of the lower nobles of the family. Plus, the guidelines of a prince stated that he was to marry a princess.

And last time he checked, she wasn't one.

He sighed. What would he do?

Hiding it seemed to be the only plausible answer. Act strong, act tough. Be impregnable. He was the leader of this ragtag bunch and he would succeed at any cost.

If only it were possible. He scoffed at himself for even thinking such a naïve thought. Surely he would crack. It was inevitable that no matter how hard he tried to keep his feelings hidden it would leak out, whether by his own actions or someone being able to read his actions or worse, Sakura finding out herself.

Maybe it wasn't all blown up he made it too be. He could be overreacting. It could just be a friendship. No more complicated than that. He was just being supportive in her time of need.

Giving off a hopeless laugh, he tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling.

It was about time to return to the campsite. No doubt that night watch would have begun by now. Standing up, he wrapped his towel around him and walked off to the changing rooms. After drying off and changing into one of his clean sets of clothing he began to walk in the direction of the camp.

They had done as much as they could for the quaint town within their time limit. They would leave tomorrow. Looking around, he stared uncomfortably at the town around him.

They could do a lot more. One day is not enough to bring a town back onto its feet.

But alas, they must leave. For who knows when Itachi's forces would take them.

Arriving at the camp, he was not surprised to see Sakura just entering her tent to sleep. She has had a rough time so far. She avoided him as much as possible now and has kept talking to a bare minimum with him as if she realized that their relation had somehow changed. Perhaps it was the impending thought of losing her family, most likely within the coming week.

Taking a breath, he entered his tent and prepared to sleep.

* * *

With questioning eyes Hinata watched the campfire slowly die out. Kitsune-chan, being rather afraid of fires, or at least campfires, was hiding within the hood of her sweater. She had her legs drawn into her chest, resting her chin upon her arms. Before long it had become rising smoke, all traces of heat gone, save for any fallen embers in the ashes. She would start night watch soon with Naruto. Taking a breath, she did her best to calm herself. 

This would be the first time she would stay up an entire night and with a handsome… humanoid as well. She simply couldn't pin a name on the man. Just Naruto? No surname? In this time period, no one could get anywhere without a surname, famous or not. The surname was the person's pride, their honor, and, in some cases, everything. For a… living being like Naruto to not have one, it was a mystery.

"Hinata." She jumped in her seat. It was just Naruto, but…

His very presence made her feel a bit cautious. "Night watch isn't done by watching a fire die, you know," he calmly joked. He was smoking again. Taking a drag he tilted his head back and blew out a small smoke ring. Looking down, he saw Hinata eying the ring until it disappeared. He smiled a bit. "If you think that's interesting, I could blow a whole lot of other things too."

She blushed and looked down again. "S-Sorry, I got distracted. Let's go, Naruto-kun." She slowly stood up and her small fox took his place at her shoulder.

And then embarrassedly turned to him. She blushed again, "Um… what do we do during a night watch?"

Naruto sighed a bit. Not only was girl he had to protect annoying, she was rather empty headed. Or maybe she was raised that way. He wasn't sure. "You've never done night watch before?"

Blushing deeper, she shook her head, too embarrassed to speak.

"…" He just had to ask, "Have you ever stayed up past one AM?" He felt two foreign chakra signatures, unlike those he had felt before. But it wasn't hostile. _'Must be the elementals…'_

"N-no," she replied, "My father had a strict bedtime curfew at ten PM." He knew it. It made sense either way. Her eyes had almost no bags under them, as if she never had to stay up past midnight. Not only that, but she was…

No. It would be better to not think about that. It would make things awkward. It would be best to simply bury the past. It was 1,400 years ago.

Plus, a few uninvited guests were just leaving. But he could catch up to them.

Gently, he grasped her hand before slowly leading her around the camp. "Come on then, I'll show you the ropes." She blushed at the contact and followed after. "The purpose of night watch is to make sure that we don't get ambushed. Of course, this is rather easily achieved, especially for you. With your Byakuugan, you can see over the entire camp from any side. Sticking with me so far?" He turned around to see her trying to stifle a yawn.

"I-I'm sorry!" Hinata quickly apologized after she discovered he saw her.

Naruto stopped pulling her. "Tired?"

She nodded, almost ashamed.

"It's okay, it's human nature to be tired."

"And it's okay for you not to be?"

"Again with the sleep issue?"

"It's just that it seems so… unnatural for you to not be tired, N-Naruto-kun."

"Oh, I sleep, but just not very often."

"Insomnia?"

"…Kind of." He took a breath. "Look, maybe you should sleep. It's obvious that you're not prepared for this kind of stuff yet. But you'll find yourself staying up longer and longer eventually."

"B-But-" she looked at him.

"Besides…" he donned a grin, "You won't remember a thing when you wake up."

"Huh?" Before her eyes he vanished and appeared besides her. She felt a quick tap on her shoulder before blacking out. Falling backwards, Naruto extended his hands and caught her. Sensing the sudden change of consciousness in his master Kitsune-chan jumped out and looked at Naruto.

"Don't worry, boy, she'll be fine." Picking her up in his arms, he carried her back to her tent and tucked her in.

She looked rather peaceful. Dreaming, perhaps? Smiling a bit, he stepped out and looked at the small fox. "Now keep an eye out, alright? Make sure that no one enters her tent." Kitsune-chan yipped gleefully before taking a seat in front of the tent.

Naruto began to walk away, but the small fox whined. "Don't worry about the night watch thing. Those two arrived moments ago and are acting upon protocol. Besides, I have to take care of a few scouts." With astounding speed, he took off, rushing past the debris of the town.

* * *

Within seconds Naruto was at the edge of the forest. The speed of the scouts was nothing compared to his. He wouldn't be surprised if he left burn marks on the ground where he stepped. He grimaced. 

He'd have to kill again. But it wasn't like he had a choice. Sensing three chakra signatures he zoned in on them. Using his speed he ran by the group and stopped in front to cut them off. Then he forced some chakra out, making his presence known.

The three scouts came to a stop, carefully hiding in the trees. Breathing, Naruto shouted, "I'll give you an ultimatum: You three try to even move past me, and I'll kill you."

The scout leader was cautious about the situation. He couldn't risk getting caught, but he had to get back to the Fire Kingdom. King Itachi had to know that the group was unhindered in their journey to the Rock Kingdom.

The Rock and Fire were allies. To cut them off now was optimal. Once they reached past the Rock Kingdom's border, not only would the group be difficult to track, Itachi would have a difficult time getting the permission of the other kingdom's leaders to search for Sasuke.

He had to make a break for it. Gathering as much chakra in his legs, he pushed off the branch, his teammates following suit. Zooming past, their footsteps fell quiet on the tree branches.

Naruto sighed.

In a swift movement Naruto quickly appeared and roughly shoved the captain onto the ground. "I'll give you one more chance. Try to pass me and I'll kill you."

"I've got a job to do," the captain said.

"So do I," Naruto replied.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I tried this," pulling out several kunai he tossed them at the feet of Naruto. Flipping away, the captain was several meters away from Naruto.

He stood his ground looking at the kunai the man threw. He spotted red paper wrapping around the handle. _'Explosive tags…'_

The ground around him exploded into searing flames. The captain sighed. No human could survive that, not if he didn't move from the site of explosion. Even the speed in which the person moved was too slow to escape without harm. As the smoke cleared, he saw a figure.

"No…"

There stood Naruto, unscathed. His sword had protected him from the flames.

"Impossible!" one of his teammates said, "It's impossible to be caught in an explosion and not be hurt!" he turned to his comrades. "We all saw him, right? He just stood there!" he turned back to face Naruto, this time his eyes with fear. "It's not… possible…"

Drawing his sword, Naruto began to calmly walk to the men. They instinctively backed away from him.

The captain took out his sword, "In the world of shinobi, anything is possible."

Naruto gave a grimace, "How right you are." Upon hearing the captain rushed up to deliver a cutting strike. Naruto let the blade run through him. "You men will not be leaving this place alive." With a belied look of disdain he cut the captain's sword in half before quickly stabbing his heart. Withdrawing his blade faster than they could see, the captain fell down, his lifeblood leaving his body.

His two accomplices began to back away. "What… What are you?" one of them said.

"Not human," was his only reply. He walked to them, each of their eyes filled with horror before pain and emptiness took its place. Walking back he picked up the captain's body and set it beside his two men. Taking his blade he ran chakra through it, the metals burning red.

Slashing the ground, flames erupted from the earth, dancing below the tree branches. They quickly consumed the three bodies, leaving no trace of them left. He stopped channeling his chakra and the heat dissipated, leaving nothing but charred blackness.

Naruto took out a cigarette and began to smoke, walking back to the campsite. Upon his arrival, he stood outside of Hinata's tent. He smiled at the small sleeping fox. 'F1gur3s… h3's st1ll y0ung.' Carefully picking him up he opened up her tent and slipped in. Gently placing Kitsune-chan on her sleeping bag, he looked over to make sure that she was fine.

She was smiling.

Without so much a word Naruto slipped out of her tent. Closing it up, he turned around. "Welcome, you two."

Two figures emerged from the shadows. One had a coat that covered much of his body and mouth along with circular sunglasses. He had a lanky look, but it may have been because of his jacket. The other was strongly built and carried a large silver-like shield, etched with engravings and thin slots on its sides. He wore thick padded clothing that looked like it could stop a katana easily.

"I'm guessing you're the elementals He sent here?"

"Yes, Naruto-sama," the one with sunglasses said.

"Alright, first things first. You are to address me by Naruto. We don't want to raise too much suspicion. I will refer to you as old friends. Also, your objectives are to make sure that the Prince takes back his kingdom. My objectives are to not only help the prince but also protect the girl in this tent," Naruto motioned to the tent where Hinata was calmly sleeping.

"Understood."

"Good. Get some rest, you two." They nodded and turned to leave. "And one more thing." They turned back.

"What are your names, and what… element do you represent?"

"My name is Shino," the one with sunglasses calmly replied, "and I am an insect elemental."

"I'm Katame, and I'm a protection elemental!" he cheerfully said. "I hope to be of service to you!"

"… Wonderful. Now go to sleep, we leave in the morning." The two walked off and began to set up their own tents.

Naruto sighed.

Was God just toying with him? What kind of elements were these?

* * *

Once more, Gatou kneeled before the king's throne. Trembling, he clutched his cane tighter, doing his very best to maintain his control. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and dripped down onto the red carpet below. 

"Defeated?" Itachi seethed. "It's just a pair of swordsmen! It's impossible that they could take on one hundred of our men and still survive! What kind of man do you take me to be?"

"Mercy, my king, mercy! P-Please…" Gatou trembled. "It… It would appear that they have somehow gained a small following when they engaged Zabuza."

"How many?"

"The survivor said that t-there were nine in total when they fought, your highness."

"That's still a tiny amount! They could not have won! They should not have won!"

"But your majesty! He also said that there was one man who defeated eighty of them without so much a flick of his wrist. They just… fell… with mortal wounds."

Itachi scowled. "Do you really believe that I would fall for such tricks? No one can do such a feat without moving!" He slammed his fist on the armrest before looking away. "Does he remember who they are? What crests did they wear?"

"Besides Uchiha and Haruno, there were two Hyuugas, an Inuzuka, and a Kasen. The rest did not have one."

"Hmm… Inuzuka and Kasen… they sound unfamiliar to me. Tell me about them."

"The Kasen Clan is situated near the borders of the Fire and Rock Kingdoms. They're a clan of archers."

"Interesting… and the Inuzuka?"

"U-Unfortunately…" Gatou paused, "we do not know much about them. The soldier only overheard the last name before being knocked out."

"A secretive clan?"

"Most likely, your majesty."

"Very well then," Itachi said. "Arrest the Hyuuga House."

"What?" Gatou looked up in surprise.

"Do not question my authority!" Itachi yelled, "I am the king, and you are a mere underling. You will obey me."

"Yes, yes, I'm an underling, but… may… may I offer a suggestion?" Gatou bowed down and gritted his teeth. If Itachi didn't want to hear it, he could execute him.

"… Speak."

Gatou sighed in relief. "My s-suggestion would be to not arrest the Hyuuga House… yet. Given the current rate of news travel, the other kingdoms could have heard about the arrest of the Haruno House. They could be planning an attack. If we were to arrest the Hyuugas now, we would be locking away our trump card, giving them a reason to attack us."

"I see…" Itachi thought for a moment. "It is decided then. We will not arrest the Hyuugas for now. Tell me more about the intelligence. How were they able to defeat one hundred shinobi with just nine?"

"The survivor described the mysterious shinobi as… demonic."

"Demonic?"

"His speed was unrivaled. He could cut through any blade and any thing. What made it worse was that he constantly hummed, as if to unnerve the forces by his calmness."

"Any physical descriptions?"

"He had blonde hair with blue eyes and wore black clothing. His sword was… rectangular, strangely enough."

"An odd man…"

"Indeed, my lord."

"Hmm… What about that group of scouts? Have they sent a return message?"

"The have yet to your greatness…"

"I see…" Itachi knitted his brows in thought. "Tell our allies in the Rock Kingdom to be on the lookout. There is no doubt that they are headed that way. They cannot leave our territories. Once they do we will have a difficult time with the other kingdoms allowing us to pursue them."

"Very well, your highness." Catching his breath, Gatou got up to leave.

"And Gatou…"

"Y-Yes?"

"Execute the Harunos for high treason. Spare no one, not even the children."

"...Very well then," Gatou grimly replied. He stood up and turned to walk away.

"And be sure to send a bird summon with the news of their deaths to my brother's teacher."

Gatou paused before shakily replying, "May your will be done, my king."

* * *

I know that I seem to ignore the other characters, but they haven't spent enough time (turns? chapters? lol) together so they can't have 'support conversations' yet, although some already have. 


	9. Enemy's Territory

Hey everybody! I know it's been a long time since this fic has been updated, but I've made up for it by a DOUBLE UPDATE! That's right, you get two chapters instead of one! Enjoy!

Review Response Time!

Chidori vs Rasengan: If you think about it, Naruto and Sasuke's weapon are already S Class. Elemental powers should make up S Class weaponry or something like that. However, it will probably just be 'S Class' in theory. There won't be any mathematical figures going into here. Imagine how weird it would be if there was... O.o

Dragonman 180: Is Gatou really an evil character in here? He's just the king's advisor. He got Itachi to spare the Hyuugas. For them to take vengeance upon him would be silly, as he has done nothing wrong.

Rainingblood666: Not everything in a fic will be green meadows with flowers and butterflies.

A/N: My beta was unable to respond, so I had my friend (SolarisAstrum) beta it for me. Hopefully my normal one will return. Otherwise... Also, on a non-beta related note, I will not be POSTING UC lemons. If you want it, send me a PM. Of course, I don't have one up and ready right now. I'll have to get to the proper place first.

Finally, one last thing. How many of you would like to see a sequel to Encyclopedia Ninja? Before you answer though, let me warn you. If I do make a sequel, it will have a very different context. Also, if I do make a sequel, that means you may be seeing less frequent updates. Keep that in mind while you pick.

I do not own Naruto or Fire Emblem.

Onward!

* * *

Chapter 9: Enemy's Territory 

"Why did you make me do it?"

"B3c4us3 1t w4s wh4t y0u w4nt3d, n0?"

"If I wanted it so badly there were political ways to achieve it!"

"P0l1t1cs w1ll 0nly c4rry y0u s0 f4r. 3v3ntu4lly y0u'll h4ve t0 r3ly 0n f0rc3. 3v3n 1f y0u h4d d0n3 s0, y0u w0uld 0nly h4v3 p4rt14l p0w3r."

"… What if I didn't want this to happen?"

"Th3n 1t 1s t00 l4t3 t0 ch4ng3 th3 c0urs3 0f h1st0ry"

"But it doesn't have to be this way, does it?"

"Wh3n H3 w4nts s0m3th1ng d0n3, 1t g3ts d0ne. Th3 w0rld d03sn't r3v0lv3 ar0und y0u."

And the slithery voice disappeared.

---

Hinata awoke at the dreadful time before daybreak to the noise of yawning, greetings, breakfast, and the packing of tents. She groaned a little before shifting around, rousing the red ball of fluff on her stomach. As Kitsune-chan got up it yawned and stretched a bit before sauntering off. With a playful manner it approached Hinata and gave a gentle lick on her cheek, attempting to get her to rise from her bed.

Eventually she opened her eyes and turned to the small fox. "Good morning to you, too," she said with a small smile. It yipped before dashing over to the tent entrance, attempting to open the flap. "You want out, Kitsune-chan?" the fox nodded at her before waiting in anticipation for Hinata to open it.

As she reached over, another hand had already opened the tent, letting in tiny fractions of light. Kitsune-chan quickly left and Naruto's face looked in. "'Rise and shine' is the worst way to start a day off, wouldn't you say?" he said.

She jumped at the voice and quickly pulled up her sheets to cover herself, blushing. "N-Naruto-kun! W-What are you doing? I'm h-half naked!"

"Umm…" Naruto paused, "No you're not." She looked down at her self and indeed she did have her clothes on.

"Oh…" she trailed off. And then, "…H-How did you know that I had clothes on?" Was he… peeping on her?

"You fell asleep during night watch so I carried you back. And I'm sure you would have something against me undressing you so I simply tucked you in."

"I-I see…"

"Well no worries. It's time to get packing, Hinata."

---

By early morning the group had arrived at the Rock capital. Gaining entrance was unbelievably easy; a simple Henge and a large, well-timed leap got all of them over. As Sasuke landed, he spotted Shino and Katame, the two new… members in his ragtag army. While he had no idea where they had come from or whether they were safe to be around with or not, they said that they knew Naruto.

That wasn't enough to buy them his trust but with Naruto's abilities, he opted to leave the conversation at that.

They had all removed their crests to prevent being identified. Both Hinata and Neji simply transformed their eyes to hide their trademark bloodline. The easiest thing for them was to be an elder brother and younger sister. The small fox simply hid in her sweater hood.

Sasuke focused his eyes at the animal. If anyone figured out that they were housing such an animal, their chances of staying hidden would sink. He grimaced.

"I suggest that you gather supplies while you still can," Sasuke said to the group. He had once again donned his simpler clothing, his sword resting hidden in its sheath. He looked older, his Henge used to add wrinkles and spots on his skin. His hair had started to turn gray. "I'll accompany Sakura to get a new sword. We'll meet back here around three PM." Turning around, he left to follow his teacher who had already found a somewhat respectable blacksmith and had begun to haggle with him.

She turned her eyes into a deep black and her hair to match. She too aged herself, although only by perhaps a year or so.

However, there were some… new additions to her body. She seemed to be a bit curvier. The difference seemed minimal almost, but with such a subtle change she was almost someone he couldn't recognize.

"Come on, mister! You have to let me use your forge!" She urged the middle-aged man.

"As much as I would welcome your patronage, I cannot allow you to use it without some sort of identification. For all I know you could be enemies of the king!" he said, half jokingly. "Perhaps you have a crest you could show me?"

She slammed her hands on the counter in front of her. "Sir," she said calmly but with ice traced in its midst, "I am not a shinobi and therefore would not have one. I'm a citizen from the Fire Country."

The blacksmith grimly replied, "Your arms say otherwise."

She lifted them and grimaced. Written upon them were scars and toned muscle from years of training and use. She had to think quickly.

"She's his daughter," a voice said from the side. Looking over, they spotted Naruto admiring the shop's merchandise. "They both work in blacksmithing and he's just passing down the trade."

When Sasuke heard that he was her 'father,' he faltered a little but recovered. "I didn't think I would find you here… old friend."

For a moment, there was a flash of pain in Naruto's eyes.

It was a needed cover-up. Turning around he faced the mysterious man of his troupe. "What are you here for?"

He could have sworn that he saw a single long… something make a quick sweep behind him. _'I must be seeing things…'_

"Oh the usual: rare weaponry."

"I see."

"Ahem," the blacksmith coughed. "Ahh…" he turned to Sasuke. "I'm rather sorry about the fiasco. I'd be glad to allow your daughter to forge a sword for a small fee."

There was that strange swish behind Naruto again.

"For free I mean! The forge is in the side room over there," the blacksmith said, pointing at a door in the sidewall. Then he quickly trotted over to Naruto. "So, interested in rare weaponry? Would you like to see my stock? I'm not sure if there are any 'rare' weapons but why not take a look, eh?" The pair walked off into a room in the back.

Sasuke thought for a moment. What had Naruto done to the blacksmith? There was no way that he would believe such a simple alibi if he was in his right mind. He seemed to have a sharp eye, judging on how he could spot the muscles in Sakura's arm and that his mind must have been just as keen as well.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura hissed before grabbing his wrist and dragging him into the forge. "If you stay out there, you'll seem suspicious!"

When she opened the door the pair was greeted with a blast of heat. Half pulling him in Sakura shut the door and walked over to the furnace. "I won't be able to make a Haruno sword quickly so I'll have to stick with a simple steel katana for now. Hopefully it will last until we can go somewhere safer."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. Already sweat was beading its way down his face as well as Sakura's. Grimly remembering his thoughts from _that_ morning, he gulped before taking a seat in a nearby chair. She had taken off her Henge. Perhaps he ought to as well.

Hell sure was hot.

---

"This city is HUGE!" Bright violet eyes flashed with wonder and curiosity as Maeka traveled from stall to stall, admiring the merchandise on sale. Almost wistfully she looked for small things, little trinkets that weren't useful, but amusing at the least. Her father had always told her that the best things in life were free and that the next best things were the trinkets.

Despite the relationship to the Haruno family, the Kasen clan operated outside of the jurisdiction of most countries. They did not receive missions from officials, meaning that their source of income usually came from other things besides shinobi affairs. Most in her family ran two occupations, often short term ones.

Unlike most shinobis, her clan had no permanent source of income. They were vagrants. Most of her clansmen traveled from country to country, taking jobs and returning during the winter with money and supplies. When they came back they would bring little things from their travels, a souvenir maybe.

This was her first time outside of the clan grounds. She was lucky enough to have stumbled across the troupe; before meeting them she would have been swallowed up by the city, victim to the strange sights, tourist traps, and shady deals.

She sighed. Life in the city was expensive. Or so it felt like it. While she had some money, she didn't know what was a good price for anything. With a pained smile she walked away from the merchants and into a more open part of the city. Taking a seat on a nearby bench she leaned back and listlessly exhaled, closing her eyes.

"You know, if you're not careful someone could steal your wallet while you sleep."

Her eyes snapped open and she whipped around to face Kiba. She gritted her teeth in a mock smile. "How nice to see you, Inuzuka-san." While it was painfully obvious that what he said was true, he could have worded it a little nicer. "Have you decided to give in?"

"Hmph," he turned his head away. "So long as we can't hurt each other for the fear of our lives, there's no way I'm going to marry into your family."

"And afterwards?"

He moved to take a seat next to her, Akamaru walking up and resting his head in her lap, asking to be pet. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now," he said. She turned away from him. "I saw you walking down the street earlier."

"Oh, so you're following me now?" Maeka snapped as she gently moved her hands through the dog's fur.

"No, it was just a passing glance." He looked up towards the sky. "You were like a lost child in a candy store; happy, but still scared."

"And _why_ are you telling me this?"

"Is this your first time in a city like this?" With a disgusted pout, Maeka nodded her head.

He stood up. "Come with me."

"What?" she exclaimed, her eyes widened. Akamaru lifted his head off of her lap to join his master.

"It's your first time in a city, right? Now would be the time to learn the tricks to getting around in one. You might not get another chance."

"…"

"You'll enjoy it, trust me."

"… Fine then," she said in a huff. "But if you try anything funny, I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Try that and you're as good as dead."

---

While they may have undergone a slight physical change, Hinata and Neji were still… well, Hinata and Neji. With no needed character to impersonate, they simply played themselves.

And so they found themselves at a bar not to different than the one in Hyuuga City.

Hinata quietly sat at the bar counter. True, she was just a tad bit young to be in a place like this, but Neji had managed to get her in, but not Kitsune-chan. So they snuck him in and he was currently residing inside her sweater. Having ordered a simple dish of rice, pickled vegetables, and some light meats she turned to face her 'brother,' who was once again playing pool.

It was hard not to giggle. Being ever so curious, Kitsune-chan was slowly traversing up and down her shirt, exploring the magic that was inside Hinata's sweater. Eventually he popped his head up under Hinata's chin. Looking up, he licked the bottom of her head and gave a small yip to get her attention.

She looked down and gave a rather small smile. "Sorry, Kitsune-chan, but you can't be seen in here. I'll tell you when the food arrives." Giving another affectionate lick the fox dove back into her sweater. She could feel him curl up at the very bottom with his tails gently whisking back and forth, basking in the warmth of her body. Once again she looked towards Neji.

What was this Naruto? Everything he did was cryptic and arcane. He had the strength of years flowing through him, years beyond the age of man. To see him fight like that, it bordered the edge of a shameful desire to see more of its power and a guilty aftertaste in seeing what it ravaged and destroyed. It was like watching a master strategist and his enemies in battle; he would be the last one standing, the flawless victor, and she would know before the first blows were exchanged.

Neji was playing pool, again. He was playing with Tenten, again. She was winning, again. Apparently the two of them shared the same interests. Frustration was building in Neji's body language, frustration and a grudging respect.

Hinata could tell that she was playing with him, giving him opportunities that no competitive player would have slipped in. It was the same with Naruto. He somehow knew that she was onto him and he let some words just flow by. Keep your findings to yourself, he told her. Was this an invitation to investigate him? Was it an opening to find the truth?

She shook her head. Seeing how Naruto had such power that no man could have earned for one of his age, he must know ways of concealing himself from her. Did he not trust the group? Whenever he looked at her, at anyone in the rag tag troupe, she could sometimes see something flicker in his eyes. A small shift downwards that was there for immeasurable moments in time before zooming back up, as if she was imagining them.

It was obvious whether or not she pursued these answers; he would not let her know so easily. But she would dig. It was an invitation by him, she told herself. Closing her eyes, she took a breath and slowly let it out.

She would win, and he would lose. She didn't know how, she didn't know when, but she will come out victorious.

The waiter had arrived with her food. Gently she tapped Kitsune-chan through her sweater and the small fox climbed its way to the top, once again licking her chin. Taking a small piece of meat, she blew on it a little and then held it in the palm of her hand to the animal.

Tenten would win, and Neji would lose.

---

In the northern part of the city there was a small shrine. Small steps lead to a small alter on which there was a small placard that read, in small letters, "To Him."

Kneeling on a mat was Konohamaru, muttering words of prayer. He held burning incense sticks between his clasped hands. With a final breath he placed the sticks inside the pot in front of him where they would burn down to ashes. Picking up his mat and staff he strode over to the corner and placed the cushion on top of a pile of them.

"I didn't think you were the religious type," a voice called out from behind him. Turning around, Konohamaru came face to face with Naruto. The whisker-like scars on his cheeks seemed to soften in the orange glow of the candles lighting the shrine, making him seem flawless.

"Technically," Konohamaru said, "I'm not. There is a difference between religiosity and spirituality."

"Oh, is there now?" Naruto asked. "Care to tell me the difference?"

Konohamaru sighed. "Religiosity is simply following what the laws of the religion state while spirituality is actually caring about what the word says and following it because they want to."

"So you say that there is a difference between the two, despite how it is almost the same thing?"

"Yes," Konohamaru said in a finishing tone. "Why do you care so much about it anyway?"

"Eh," Naruto began, "just wondering. You sound well versed. Who taught you?"

"I never actually went through any formal training. However, my grandpa's a minister, so I learned a lot about it from him."

"A minister, you say?" Naruto said acting surprised. "Could you… describe him a bit?"

"Well, he's not really my grandpa. Judging from what he had told me, he found me on his doorstep one day. I just call him grandpa. After all, I'm pretty sure that ministers are supposed to live lives of celibacy."

"I see. What did he teach you exactly?"

Konohamaru bit his lip, almost embarrassed by what Naruto was asking. "Umm… Religion I guess. He told me a bit about how Heaven and Hell was and looked like. You could call it blasphemy but he says he knows a celestial being, which is why he knows so much."

"Celestial being, you say?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess you could believe that," Naruto began, lighting and putting a cigarette to his mouth.

"You're not supposed to smoke in here."

"I'll smoke where I want."

"But you _can't_ smoke in here!"

"Then come out side with me." Naruto began to walk out of the shrine and Konohamaru quickly followed after. "This place too stuffy for me."

"You know," the teenager began. "I would like to meet this… friend of his."

"Oh really?" Puff.

"Yeah, really. Grandpa keeps talking about this celestial friend of his. Every time I ask whether I could meet him or not, he just smiles and says it depends if he wants to meet me."

"What does he say about him?" Puff.

"Well, he says that he's always calling him old man, despite how he's much older. And he only shows up when he wants to and usually it's near a river."

"Hm." Naruto removed the cigarette from his mouth before exhaling a ring of smoke. "Well, I suppose I ought to wish you good luck. You may need it in your search for him." He began to walk away from Konohamaru and towards the city.

---

Looking up at the sky through dark sunglasses, Shino idly stretched his thin body. It had been a while since he was needed and spent his time resting for the day he would be called back to duty.

Although his duty now was very much different than what he had to do before. The only thing he was responsible for was making sure that the insects of the world were in balance with the rest of the animals and the creation of the world. As elementals, their job was to help the God make the world and make sure that it ran smoothly.

That meant that they were far older than the angels (and later demons), which came about only after God decided to make humans. However, the many other elementals like him spent their time sleeping, monitoring the balance of their elements with their thoughts.

To actually see the fruits of their labor was quite amazing to them.

"It's so amazing, this thing we've made," Katame said.

"Yeah."

"You know, I think I could just stare at the sky all day and still be amazed at it for what it is."

"Really?"

"Couldn't you? I mean, the last time we saw the sky it was just… well… devoid of anything!"

"We'll have to see."

"Oh don't give me that. You _know_ you've never seen the sky before until now."

"True, but I don't think I could just watch it all day. If we focus on just one of the many aspects of the world, we miss the rest of the things that we've made."

They were leaning back on one of the rare green hills of the Rock capital, staring aloofly into the sky.

"If feels strange," Katame began, "to be under Naruto's command, you know? I mean we're so much older than him"

"That is true, but he was given the power of one of the basic elements, fire. We can be replaced. He cannot."

"So suddenly we're replaceable now? After all we've done, God just turns around and tells us that we're expendable?"

"Think this through before you come to judge him, Katame. While we are indeed older, we have much less real world experience. Also, his previous position within the ranks of Hell was very high, meaning that he would have a large sphere of influence at his disposal."

"Oh."

They continued to stare at the sky.

"What will happen to us if we die?" Shino quietly said.

"Huh?"

"While we are replaceable, an elemental has never died before. What will happen then? Will the element that we control suddenly disappear from the world? Angels and demons can die and we'd know that it is not one of great effect upon the world, as they too are replaced and they take over the role. When they die, they are usually reborn, depending on how they died. But us… how would the world change?"

"No idea."

"Would the transition go over without flaws?"

"Well, it's God we're talking about. I'm pretty sure he has something planned for every little problem."

"Yeah."

"Him and his little board of buttons. I don't think he even knows how to use it completely."

"Well, he's never really had to use it. He just used his God powers to do everything for him."

"So in secret he could be a lazy ass?"

"Maybe."

---

It was three P.M. As mentioned beforehand, the group had meet where they split up. Having restocked their supplies (Maeka had a suspiciously new hairpin tucked in her pink tresses), they were ready for business. With solemn nods, no words were exchanged. The time had come to visit the king.

Strangely, Naruto was not present.

"Should we wait for him, sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Time is short. I want to leave the Rock Kingdom by nightfall, Uchiha-sama." He noticed that she gave up on correcting him. Whether that was good or bad was left to his discretion. "I think we can leave him behind for now. If his character holds true, I'm pretty sure that we'll see him before we leave."

"Now come on, all of you. Diplomacy isn't something that just happens overnight."

With all words said, they began their march to the castle.

* * *

What are you waiting for? TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! 


	10. Heart of it All

Chapter 10: Heart of it All

The castle had a reminiscent air to it. The buildings around it were more modern, but the castle, while not made of stone, retained a more traditional feel. The white walls had wooden beams running up its sides as support and its roof was of an ancient architecture.

Although it looked old, Sasuke was sure that it contained enough fortifications and trap doors to help ensure the safety of the occupants. However, the resistance they were meet with when entering was rather discomforting. So far, no shinobi had come to bar their entrance. They simply glanced at them before letting them in.

Even with their Henge's on, though, they felt that each guard was able to see through their disguises, penetrating them to see who they really were. At every round about, they were meet with a look of wary before the eyes returned to their normal path.

When they finally reached the giant doors, they were greeted with two guards. Wary, they kept their hands near their weapons. "Hold yourselves," one of them spoke. "We are here to take you to the king. Please follow us."

Not easily convinced, Sasuke calmly said, "What incentive is there for us to follow you? For all we know, you could be leading us into a trap."

The guard gave a patient smile. "It is because we know who you are, Uchiha-sama. Please, remove your Henge."

Obviously having lost the bout, Sasuke dropped his Henge as did Sakura, Hinata, and Neji. "How did you know that it was us?" Sakura warily asked.

"We had some… inside information." The guard bowed. "Now if you would follow me, I will take you to the king himself." He turned around and the troop reluctantly followed. Sasuke, however, was at odds with himself upon hearing that they had a spy in their group.

His immediate blame fell on Naruto and his 'friends.' Naruto himself sounded too powerful to be a mere gift from the heavens. To be able to hold the Chidori, his own blade, without even a shock was disturbing. Also, his sheer power was too great to be natural.

It must have been planned from the beginning. They would sneak a collaborator into his team and he would lead them to his brother. While Sasuke welcomed nothing more than a chance to kill his elder, he knew that only a stroke of luck would let him land the killing blow. He was nowhere near his level and his training was not even complete.

But what about those other two, Shino and Katame? Surely they were involved in this grand scheme in some manner. However, they joined only a day ago. If they were going to serve a purpose, would they have been able to complete their objective within twenty-four hours? Many questions involving the mentioned men's role flew through Sasuke's mind.

The walls of the castle were a traditional white. Sliding doors with paper-thin sheets in between were usually a luxury to have back home, but they seemed commonplace in this nation. The floors were of hardwood and were neatly waxed and polished to a fine sheen. Lights were hung from the ceiling, its glow illuminating the area. The castle seemed to be an entirely traditional one.

He remembered coming to this castle once. It was with Itachi. Before he was to be ordained to become king, he came to foreign castles to learn some of its history as well as diplomacy tactics. He would have been an ambassador for his brother if he were not to be chosen to become king.

But times had changed.

It wasn't long until they were at the king's throne room. As opposed to the rest of the castle, it did not have a cultural look but rather it appeared to be taken directly from the Fire Kingdom's throne design. It was perhaps the only room with a different interior design. The walls were made of solid stone. Banners and streamers hung from its ceiling. Guards were positioned around each side of the room, facing inwards. Sasuke was sure that there were more hiding where he could not immediately sense them. Behind two regal seats was a giant glass window. One seat was empty. The other had the king sitting in it.

And next to the king was Naruto.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you," Sasuke solemnly said.

"Oh? And why not?" Naruto asked in return. Kitsune-chan leapt from Hinata's hood to run to Naruto, but Hinata caught him before he could get any closer. The small fox whined before Hinata began to pet it, calming the animal. Its tails and ears drooped a little before it began to try to wriggle free from her hands. However, she kept a firm grip on Kitsune-chan.

"You were always a suspicious person to me. You just walk up and choose to fight for me? If you weren't so powerful I would have killed you on the spot," Sasuke spat.

"Peace, Uchiha-sama," the king said. He wore a crown bejeweled with green emeralds and blue sapphires. "The man you now curse for his betrayal has actually saved the lives of you, your men, and your gentle ladies."

"Don't give me lies like that. You'll just turn me over to my brother, won't you? Answer me!" he yelled.

"Be glad that I have patience. Any king would have beheaded you for not bowing or kneeling to him."

With a grimace, Sasuke and everyone else but Naruto knelt down. "So what will you do with us then? We're in your castle, at your mercy. Your guards outnumber us at least one hundred to one."

The king smiled. His gray hair shifted in the sunlight as he looked towards his men. "Leave the room. All of you." Nodding, they exited the throne room and closed the door. The king's face was weary. Age had begun to take its toll and soon he would have to pick out a successor. Time had no master and it demanded that all would follow its orders.

"You know, Uchiha-sama, I had always liked you more than your brother."

"I don't see how this affects our current situation, my lord."

He continued, ignoring his comment. "When I heard that you had murdered your family, I was in shock. Little Sasuke, the dark horse who would inherit the throne, killing his family? It was too hard to believe." The king stood up and began to walk around. "You are lucky to have Naruto on your side. Originally I would have arrested you here and now, but after hearing from him, I'm rather convinced that I should give you some leeway."

"What caused the sudden change of heart?" Sakura asked.

"Well, Haruno-dono," the king began, "Naruto here… well, I actually can't tell you, but he is someone you can put your trust into. I can only tell you that much. His knowledge is beyond the normal grasps of man"

"So what will you do then?" Sasuke asked. "You've had a change of heart and instead of stopping us, you've decided to let us go. Do you just plan to let us waltz out of here?"

"No, not empty-handed at least. I will give you one of my best men to help you." He turned to the side. "Come out, Lee."

Coming out of the shadows, first there were feet. Then green which later became the shape of a body. And finally, the head emerged.

The first things Sasuke recognized were his large, fuzzy eyebrows. He cringed.

"My name is Rock Lee," he said. "I am a taijutsu specialist. It is nice to meet you."

"It… is nice to meet you, too," Sasuke slowly said. The king smiled.

"Of course, that is not all that I will do for you. I shall try to stall for time as you head for the borders. My suggestion is to continue heading north at top speeds. You will come across the Ice Kingdom, seen as the neutral haven in the eyes of the shinobi world. Speak with the king and queen there. They are wise for humans and will most likely be more than happy to offer you aid."

"If I may be so brave as to ask," Sakura began, "how do you intend to stall Itachi's forces for us?"

"I myself have direct command over my shinobi. I simply won't issue the order to pursue you until three days later. I can say that there was a… mix-up and I sent them in the wrong direction."

"However, after those three days," the king solemnly began, "if we are to meet again, I'm afraid that I may not be able to view you as a friend anymore."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked.

"As much as I would like to govern this country, my time is running short. Each day I feel like I'm getting a little weaker, becoming a shadow of my former self. To look back and see how great I was at my peak makes me want to fight, to lead my troops to victory."

"When I die, Uchiha-sama, I would want it to be at your hands."

"My lord! That-"

"Silence." A short pause before the king took a breath and stood up, walking towards the window behind him. "I've always wanted to fall in battle. To die fighting against a lost cause such as time makes me feel weak, something that I cannot be if I am to lead a country. I've thought much about it. While I want you to be successful in your reclaiming of the throne, I myself want to leave the world in a blaze of glory. Call me selfish if you must, but it is something that comes with age. You wish to live long when you're young but once you turn old, you want your life to end, for there is little you can do. You want to taste that one thing that you love, that you live for."

The king looked over at the chair next to his. His eyes were a pale gray and his face had creases, ones that Sasuke had just noticed and he bit his lip. "My wife left me three years ago. After that, my life lost much of its brightness. I lost a piece of myself when I buried her."

"I want to taste battle one more time before I die."

"…"

"Uchiha-sama, you have three days to leave this country. Once that time is up, I can no longer guarantee your safety in here. Take any means necessary to reach the Ice Kingdom. Now rise," Sasuke and his troops stood. Naruto walked over and joined them. "And flee this nation." Bowing solemnly, Sasuke turned to leave.

"And Haruno-dono," the king called out. The troop stopped and turned to face the king once more. "I have a letter for you. Do not open it until you leave this country for your own sake and that of Uchiha-sama's." Taking a letter from his pocket, he walked over and placed it into the palm of her hand. She bowed before opening her mouth.

"If you wouldn't mind, my lord, since we are so pressed for time, may we leave in the quickest manner?"

The old man smiled. "Do anything you wish. I'm rather old, so surprise me."

She smiled and reached for Sasuke's hand. He blushed at the sudden contact, but afterwards he felt the color drain from his face.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun!" She changed again. "We have to get out of here!" She began to drag him towards the glass window.

"Damn it, Haruno-dono! We are _not_ going through the window!"

"That's Sakura-sensei to you!" she said before blowing out into a full run to the large piece of glass.

And suddenly, Sasuke felt like he had been through this situation before.

---

As suggested by the king, the troop had taken off at their fastest speed. Naruto trailed behind them, making sure that they were not followed. By dusk they had reached the border and crossed over into the Kingdom of Ice.

They were about an hour away from the border now. They were in neutral territory. Laws claimed that there would be no fighting, no bloodshed between nations on this soil.

And yet Sasuke felt that the ancient law would be broken soon. As he sat in front of the fire, his plate finished, he looked over his towards his troops. Maeka and Kiba were oddly not at each other's throats and Naruto, once again, was on night watch. Shino was quietly monitoring the group and Hinata was gently petting the small fox, which had curled into a ball on her lap. Tenten idly watched the stars and Neji was watching over everything. Rock Lee and Katame were both talking about how great the world was and how it was so wasteful that many of today's youth were dillydallying around, doing unproductive things.

That Rock Lee fellow was disturbingly talkative. Although he was sure that the king meant well in his… generous gift, he couldn't help but feel that there was some ulterior motive behind it. Sasuke had yet to see him in battle, but something told him that things weren't what they seem to be.

Lee could have been a spy. While he hated to think like this, naïve decisions will create many negative consequences.

He sighed.

Sakura was nowhere to be seen. On a normal night she would be sharing with stories with Maeka or maybe, he shuddered at the thought, teaching him something. But she was nowhere to be seen. He stood up and tapped Neji on the shoulder.

"Something you want, Uchiha-sama?" the Hyuuga asked.

"Keep an eye over the camp. I'm going to look for Sakura." Receiving a nod from Neji, Sasuke trudged off through the pine trees, shivering a little.

Already the nights were much colder than they were in the Rock or Fire Kingdom. They would have to find a way to get their hands on some warmer clothing. But so long as it didn't snow, things would be fine. It was still in the middle of fall. Snow would not come until they traveled farther north, or at least until a few months later.

He walked along through the trees, keeping the campfire in sight. Sending some chakra to his ears, he increases his range of hearing, searching for anything that was unusual, for anything that stood out.

…

There. It was a small sob. Muffled, almost. Sniffles and the tiny sound of crinkling paper. Quietly walking to the source, he found Sakura kneeling and hunched over, hands holding onto the letter she received from the king. Something told him to run over and he did. He stopped beside her and she did not notice him. Gently, he tugged the paper from her balled hands until it came loose. She put one hand over her mouth, doing her best to hide her shame, to stifle her cries of agony and weakness. Her other hand clutched onto the hem of her shirt, scrunching it into a wrinkled mass.

He read the paper.

To our daughter, Haruno Sakura…

I remember when you picked up your first Haruno blade. You were so clumsy that many doubted that you would be a great swordswoman. Even I had some doubts. But you managed to prove them wrong. You have gone beyond what we have originally thought you could do. There is no expectation that you have not surpassed.

You are the best Haruno shinobi ever to grace the kingdoms.

In light of the recent situations, there was a fine line you had to walk. You've had to choose who would be spared and who would die. It is a harrowing decision that you have had to make and you will have to make that decision over and over again. Sword wielders will fight. There is no escaping your fate.

You have condemned your family. You have left your relatives and your parents when you could have kept us alive. No one will be spared from the executions. Not even the youngest of the Harunos, who is no older than five months. You have made a choice that you cannot go back on.

You are the pride of the Haruno Clan. You have served and continue to serve the purpose of the Harunos: to ensure the survival of the prince until he becomes the ruler of the land, where the Hyuugas will then watch over him. That is the highest command that we are given. In conjunction with the Hyuugas, we are the protectors of the throne, and no one has taken to the rules as much as you have.

By the time you read this, we will have already been executed. There is no helping it. Do not return to exact revenge. Watch over Prince Sasuke and make sure that he becomes the king. When he is ready to take back what belongs to him, be ready to give your all. To lose everything is to gain freedom, but remember to achieve your objective first.

We are proud of you, Sakura. While we left on a rather sour note, you are everything and more that the Haruno Clan and a mother and father could ever hope for. Do not worry about us. We are doomed, but our will flows through you, the last of the Harunos.

May blessings fall upon you, the future king Uchiha Sasuke, and any friends that you meet along the path of victory.

Love, Haruno Yumi and Sideki Tsuteto

His hand trembled.

It had happened. His brother had gone and wiped out one of the pillars holding up the Fire Kingdom's power. A whole family, a whole line of good shinobi, had been wiped from the face of the earth. His fist clenched.

They say they were executed. Treason was dealt with the harshest of manners. Public executions where people would spit at them, throw rotten food and other unimaginable things at them. Normally it would just be one person, and the execution would go rather traditionally.

However, with such a huge procession of people to be executed, he doubted if there was time to clean the blade or even move the bodies somewhere else. He cringed at the thought. Piles of bloody bodies with pink hair sticking out at impossible angles came to mind.

They would not even receive a proper burial. Their bodies would be thrown out of the city where the beasts, birds, and insects would feast upon the carrion.

It was no execution.

It was a massacre.

He remembered his family. The blood strewn everywhere on the floor, their eyes open with shock and fear before Itachi's cold blade descended upon them.

He remembered and his anger burned. If the letter was addressed to him rather than Sakura, he would have ran his sword through it.

While the Harunos' ultimate goal is to protect the prince at all costs, to call this, this extreme martyrdom as fulfilling the family objective was ridiculous.

His life wasn't worth that much. Not the lives of an entire clan save one. The letter written was directed towards hurting Sakura. The guilt and shame suddenly placed onto her shoulders had already broken them. In front of him she kneeled, bawling, sniffling, shivering.

This letter was edited or the author was forced to write it in this manner. And seeing as how the writer was condemned to die, threatening him with death would be ineffective.

He took the paper and formed a hand seal. "Kai." Immediately the words shifted around, spinning and swirling. They formed a sphere before resettling.

The letter remained the same. Same wording, same meanings. Gritting his teeth, he took out the Chidori. Lightning coursed through the blade subconsciously, its power aching for combat, lapping up the anger from its wielder. With a swing, he destroyed the letter, the electricity lighting the fragile material. It fell onto the ground in cinders and he put the blade away. He quietly walked to Sakura.

"The letter was modified."

She looked at him. "How are you so strong?" she said, ignoring his statement.

"What?"

"How can you stand," she sobbed, "losing your entire family to one man? To have blood betray blood?"

"… Sakura." She looked up at him, confused as to why he would simply use her name by its self. "Stand up." She slowly got to her feet, shaking. He gently placed his hands onto her shoulders. "No one is naturally born strong. You become strong by persevering through hardships."

"But-" she sniffed, "you didn't cry like this!"

"I cried in my sleep."

"But you have no control over what happens when you sleep!" she almost yelled. "I can't even control how I feel right now!"

"Look at me."

She turned her head away from him. Not with this thing again…

He took a hand and pulled her chin to face him. "Look at me, Sakura. There is no difference between you and me. In my eyes, I view you as an equal right now," he said, ignoring the hypocrisy in his words. "You still have a goal to complete."

"But-"

"Shhh," he silenced her. He brought her into a hug. He couldn't believe that he had to do this again. But if it was to keep her in a stable mindset, he would do whatever it took because something inside told him it was the right thing to do. He brought a hand against the back of her head and gently brought her onto his shoulder.

And she cried. She held onto him tightly and she cried.

And because they were standing up, there was no way she would fall asleep on his shoulder this time.

---

When all was silent around the camp, Naruto was keeping night watch. He traveled to where Sasuke destroyed the letter. His chakra seeped into the ground and it grabbed all the tiny pieces of ash before they enveloped it. Slowly, the refuse became white and started to link together, forming the words, the damned words. When the letter became whole, he slipped it into his jacket and continued his rounds.

* * *

Did you know that when I uploaded them, both chapter nine and ten HAD THE SAME WORDCOUNT? Yeah, I was freaked out myself O.o Just a tidbit for you until the next update. 

Another thing: my friend SolarisAstrum (that's his penname) needs writers to help him write out a prologue for his fic. Don't worry, you'll get credit for writing it out. The prologue will basically become a gigantic collab part and then he'll continue the real story after the prologue is finished. If you want to help out, just send him a PM.


	11. Harsh Reality

It's that time again! I got caught up with a few things. First there was my high school's drama production and then winter vacation followed shortly by a Wii Zelda underdosage that needed serious addressing to. But this chapter is finished. Review response time! Unfortunately there are only two that seem worth addressing to personally.

Hybrid Thing: Trust me, plot holes will arise. I probably don't want them there but there is no definite answer as to when or where I may slip up at.

Runwithskizzers: Although if you think about it, everyone has their own style.

For all the rest of you asking for a sequel for Encyclopedia Ninja, I'm sorry to say but that will not happen. Not only do I lack enough plot but I also lack the time to do so. Encyclopedia Ninja has had its moments, but it's time to move on.

I would like to thank my beta for helping me with this. However, I did not show him one tiny section of the fic, as it would really cheat out everyone else. As to what part I left out, I think you'll be able to figure it out on your own.

A/N: After this chapter I intend to update Product Shinobi a few times. I think I figured out what to do next.

I do not own Naruto or Fire Emblem (anyone who's played a Fire Emblem game knows what the first part of the chapter is for XD).

Onward!

PS: Brad, good things come to those who wait.

* * *

Chapter 11: Harsh Reality 

The map unfurls itself. As the lay of the land is revealed, small dots and lines appear, labeling the capital cities and boundaries of kingdoms.

Towards the right of the center of the known shinobi world lies the Fire Kingdom. It is surrounded by dense forest on all sides, almost a natural defense against attackers. It is home to Uchiha Sasuke, prince of Konoha.

On the day of his coronation ceremony, his elder brother Uchiha Itachi slaughters the royal family and frames the young prince for it. With no choice but to flee, he leaves his kingdom with his teacher and bodyguard Haruno Sakura. They head north through the Rock Kingdom, ally of the Fire Kingdom, and into the neutral zone of the Ice Kingdom.

Literally at the top of the earth, almost the entire land is covered in snow year-round. However, the land itself is believed to be where the God Himself first stepped onto the world; amazing yields of crops and livestock are recorded every year. The kingdom continues to rise in prosperity and power, respected by all countries. It is the most powerful kingdom in the world.

However, their acts of neutrality shows that they refuse to take part in outside war affairs. Instead, treaties and trade deals are made and signed in the kingdom. Cases requiring higher judgment are sent and the verdicts made by the ruling king and queen.

While their request may be denied, Uchiha Sasuke knows that he cannot lose by inquiring for help; his reclaiming of the throne will only be delayed.

---

Bee-beep!

…

Bee-beep!

…

Bee-bee-chink!

Naruto's cell phone lay shattered among the snow in the early morning.

About an hour before, Naruto decided that he could revert back to his real form. He was sitting one of the few tree branches that were not covered in snow, his nine tails dangling near the ground with a lit cigarette in his mouth. He was staring up at the sky, contemplating how many stars were visible from the near-frozen expanse they were in.

Fifteen minutes ago, his cell phone started ringing. And in all honesty he did not want to pick it up. So he let it ring, hoping that the man who was calling would eventually give up.

One minute ago, he realized that the one on the other end would not hang up, which brings about the entire 'bee-bee- chink' situation.

In a swift motion, one of Naruto's tails grasped the object before viciously slamming it against the tree trunk. He let the remains of the phone fall to the ground, wires and other odds and ends sticking out of the snow.

And then God said, "You will answer me when I call you, or the consequences will be much worse."

Within seconds of the shattered phone hitting the ground, a new one fell out of the sky and landed painfully between Naruto's legs, the offending plastic object still ringing. He let out a suppressed cry. Having bounced off and landed on the ground, one of his tails limply picked up the new phone and brought it too his ears, flicking it open.

In a pained voice Naruto began to speak. "What the hell do you want now?"

"You will answer me when I call you, or the consequence will be much worse."

"Yeah, yeah… is there anything important that you couldn't have told me in a less painful manner?"

"Well if you had picked up we could have avoided this whole situation, now wouldn't we?"

"Okay! I get your damned point! Just tell me what the hell you want!"

"Well now that I have your attention, I will speak. I want you to teach Uchiha Sasuke to bring out the Chidori's full potential as soon as possible."

"As in?"

"As in to get it to transform."

"Transform? Do you know how long that will take?"

"Yes. On average it takes about several years."

"Uchiha Sasuke doesn't have time for that."

"But that was done by the normal method, where you tried to become one with your blade. There is a method to… force the change."

"And how does that work?"

"Pretty much overpower him in combat."

"And if he dies?"

"He won't."

"… Alright, whatever. Is there anything else that I should know?"

"Nope. You might want to get some ice for that minor injury of yours though. We wouldn't want it to swell up now would we? Oh, and be sure to hide the remnants of your old phone."

Then God hung up. Swearing, Naruto gently got down from his seat. Picking up the pieces of the phone as well as his cigarette, he burned it up until there was nothing left. Limping, Naruto began to hobble over to the campsite.

Suddenly there was the sound of snow being crushed beneath feet. Quickly he reverted to his more human form, tightening the grip on his sword.

"Naruto-kun?" It was Hinata.

"What are you doing up?" he said, trying his best to sound normal. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I-I heard someone yell out or something, so I got up to check it out."

"You sure?" She gently nodded her head. "Well, I didn't hear anything. Maybe you should go back to sleep." He began to walk past her, almost limping.

"Y-You're hurt! What happened?"

"I… I sprained my ankle."

"Let me take a look. I-I can do some minor healing."

"No!" Naruto cried out. "I think I'll be alright."

"B-But it's so simple! Really, let me do it." She focused chakra into her eyes. "Byakuugan!"

She gasped. The two times she had seen him with her Byakuugan activated was in battle and when she saw him in the forest. This time however, she saw him without outside interference and at a very close distance. His Tenketsu points were not where they should have been. While she could guess as to which point was responsible for what malady, all the other points she would have to test out by trial and error.

She tried to turn her attention back to his injured ankle. "Well, your ankle seems fine. Maybe there's something else bothering you." She scanned upwards and found the problem. She gave a small yell of surprise and pulled her arms into her chest, looking timid.

Three. Two. One. Stutter. Add a bucket of blush. "Umm… Y-You seem to have s-suffered some uh… some…"

"Yes?" Somehow, Naruto had a feeling that he wouldn't like where this is going.

"S-Some p-p-p-"

"Speak up, I can't hear you." Did he want to hear her?

"P-P-P" She seemed stuck on the word.

"Do you plan to say something or can I go? I've got a few things I have to do." She reminded Naruto of cornered, helpless prey. But she wasn't in any actual danger. Not from him anyway.

"Penile injuries!" she yelled out, her face going many shades darker. "Y-You've suffered some p-p-penile injuries." Her breath was short and she deactivated her Byakuugan. "There uh… seems to be some… swelling… in the mentioned… b-body part."

"And do you plan to fix the problem within the next few minutes or so?"

"I uh lack… experience… in treating these type of… injuries."

"Very well then." Naruto began to hobble by her.

As he passed, his arm quickly reached out and tapped a point on her shoulder, forcing her to faint once again. He caught her before she hit the ground and carried Hinata back to her tent.

It was best to make sure that no one knew about this encounter between the two.

Although, where was Kitsune-chan? He sniffed the air.

Oh. Yes…

_That._

Well, he'd deal with it later.

Actually no, he would go deal with that now. It was always easier to deal with problems as soon as possible, something that he would not forget for a very long time.

Walking away from the camp, he set out to find the small fox.

---

"ARISE, YOUNG PRINCE, TO A BEAUTIFUL MORNING!"

Of course, Uchiha Sasuke did just the opposite; he cringed, the barely awakened young man moving away from the source of the cacophony. Maybe there was another reason as to why that idiot was here.

"SMELL THE AIR AROUND YOU! IT IS ALIVE! ALIVE WITH THE-"

And that was more than enough to make Sasuke's day very, very, very sour.

Well, in reality, that only made his day very sour.

The fact that just about everyone was grumpy because of Lee's free wakeup call made it very, very sour.

Finally, Sakura once again calling him Sasuke-kun just made the day very, very, very sour.

"Sasuke-kun, you need to eat more. It's getting colder now so it's important to maintain a healthy diet," his teacher said. How could he maintain a healthy diet? All they had at the moment were dried meats, hard tack, and something that he could barely call hot coffee.

He thought back to the previous nights before, where it was just him and Sakura. Was Naruto right? Had she grown on him? Was it because of the things that they had endured together? What was it?

He was enraged by her. Confused by her. Disliked her at times. Yet he took the time to make sure that she was feeling secure both of those nights. He went out of his way to make sure that she was in her best condition.

Okay, so he cared for her.

But that didn't explain his more than red-light thoughts about her. To care for her suddenly seemed like his reasoning had come short.

…

Alright then.

Maybe he liked her.

Just a little though. Not a lot. Just… a little.

But what about that kiss? All the way back in Hyuuga City? What did that mean to him?

It was a ruse to avoid getting caught. Yes. There were two men looking for him and she kissed him so they wouldn't be captured.

Ugh. Now that he thought about it, he almost tasted that sick cherry flavor from her lips.

He took a gulp of his coffee and decided he had a better chance of finding dirt that tasted better than the liquid.

But he doubted himself; everything seemed to have a hint of cherry to it now. With disgust he poured the coffee onto the snow besides him; perhaps the earth would like to take back whatever the-

"Uchiha-sama! Get down!"

hell they made and turn it into some real-

And then he was knocked to the ground. For a moment he was dazed but a faint thunk of metal was heard. A kunai was lodged where he was moments before. Apparently someone had found their group and begun to attack them. Pulling out his sword he got up and faced his enemies.

"Stay back, Uchiha-sama, they have us surrounded," Sakura grasped his elbow and pulled him behind her.

"And what makes being behind you any safer?"

"Very much safer, if you were to bother looking somewhere besides my backside," she whispered to him.

He was sure that she meant it as a joke, but she was more correct than she thought she was. Looking away he noticed how everyone had formed a loose circle around him, facing the outside. Everyone but Naruto.

He swore. Honestly, that man was nowhere to be seen when he was needed the most. He heard a deep voice call out from the crowd.

"So the prince of the Fire Kingdom must hide behind women? Pathetic."

Before he could answer, Sakura yelled out to the voice. "Speak for yourself. You're taking advantage of the fact that everyone feels safe in this zone. Who are you, and what do you want with us? We're in the Ice Kingdom. You have no right to attack us here."

"Oh, apparently your meat shield knows her politics," the voice said again. "I suppose she should though. She was born into nobility, unlike the rest of us."

"And why does that matter?" Sasuke responded.

He could hear the person chuckling. "That means that she is above us in the social caste. She is more powerful and controls more wealth than many of us here may ever see in our lives, all because she was born."

"You speak like you know me personally," Sakura responded. "Why don't you come out here and greet me like a friend?" she sarcastically replied.

"Oh? You would ask me to grace you with my presence? I'm flattered," the voice laughed, causing the men around them to laugh as well. When the ruckus died down, he spoke once more. "Very well then. I shall reveal myself." The sea of enemies parted to reveal a man only a little taller than Sasuke. His hair was an offset white and the shirt he wore was torn at the sleeves, showing smooth muscles. He was thin, almost a little too thin. His smile was one of mischief.

"My name is Mizuki, and these are my bandits." Sasuke grimaced. "You as well as a few others in this group happen to have a bounty on their heads. I must say, it's very convenient of you to join us way up here."

"How long have you known of our presence?" Sakura asked.

"Long enough," He smiled. "You know the process, boys. Take care of them, but try not to be too rough with the ladies." Then he vanished.

Just… melted into the ground, and vanished, replaced by drawn blades and weapons.

Yes, this was a very sour day indeed.

---

Yes, Naruto knew that Sasuke and his group of "bodyguards" were in the middle of a fight.

Yes, he knew that they were against some difficult odds.

No, he would not go back until he fixed his problem now.

No, it was not that he couldn't walk properly, that problem fixed itself eventually.

Sitting before him was the small Kitsune-chan, his two tails waving energetically behind him. While he was cute and whatnot, there were still a few problems in need of addressing.

"Alright then," he said, staring down at the animal, "what should I do with you?"

The fox turned a full revolution before stopping to look at Naruto once more.

"So you want another tail, do you?" Naruto rubbed his chin a little. "Well, you haven't been given a second task yet, so I can't really just give you your third tail.

It whimpered.

"True, you are older than most two-tailed foxes… How old exactly?"

Yip.

"Five years? You are overdue for three tails then. I suppose I can forego the rules just this once."

"Before I begin though, let me warn you. You may be a little disoriented for a moment after the change." Then without warning he snapped his fingers like before and chanted the words of his language.

Suddenly the snow seemed to be a lot farther away from the fox's eyes. Looking at his body, the first thing the fox recognized was that he was of a normal size. Turning around, it also noted that it had three tails. Like before, it wagged them fiercely. However, Naruto quickly spoke up.

"You will want to be a little careful with that wagging of yours, you know. It seems like it's a lot of fun and whatnot but your powers are beginning to develop. While it's not very powerful yet, you can't control it very well. And trust me you do not want your powers to go out of hand right now."

Understanding, the fox stopped wagging the tails.

"Oh, and one more thing. Try not to get too distracted. You know what I mean? You have a job to do and that is to make sure that Hinata remains as safe as possible. Even now the group is under attack and I know for a sure thing that they are targeting the women. We're in some dangerous territory here."

The fox looked up at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I should go help them and what not but really, making sure that you understood what is going on right now is more important. I would like to make the current situation for you as minimally confusing as possible, especially with your powers probably going rampant."

And then their ears picked up something.

"It would appear that we have overestimated the capabilities of our human friends. Heading back is now very necessary," Naruto said, all traces of gentleness gone.

The fox nodded and the pair sped back to the camp. Even now he was slowly changing into his humanoid form.

Something had happened to Hinata.

---

The confrontation had been going fine. They had taken no damage from the bandit ninjas. Sasuke had been protected so far and it looked like they would not be giving into the attack anytime soon.

However, Hinata was distracted. She had not seen her bonsai pet fox anywhere at all this morning. At first she had assumed that it was out relieving itself. When it was gone for longer she thought that it had gone to chase some rabbits. Finally she had accepted that the fox had disappeared on it's own.

And then there was the… dream. It had felt so real to Hinata that it should not have been a dream but perhaps…

She remembered hearing a yell before she got up out of her tent in search of the source. It had led her to Naruto, who was hobbling around. He claimed that it was because of a sprained ankle but upon closer inspection it was because of a…

Well…

Penile injury. She had blushed when she remembered that part.

And thus Hinata was distracted in the confrontation between Sasuke's squad and the bandit brigade. She was fine in the beginning of the conflict. As time wore on, however, she grew more worried about. Where was her fox? Where had Naruto gone? While they were holding them off rather easily she was getting tired.

It was at this point in time that a kunai was thrown at her from her blind spot. As all Hyuugas did she channeled chakra through that point to detect projectiles and whatnot. Being tired, however, she received a small cut on her arm.

"Hinata-sama!" Neji cried, "You're hurt!"

"I-It's nothing," she replied. "Just a shallow cut."

"Try to be a little more careful then!" Neji said, striking down an opponent.

Hinata nodded her head weakly. She surrounded by multiple enemies and she readied herself. As she went to make the first blow, however, her body fell to the ground. Lying there she looked over at her wound. It seemed discolored.

Poison. Every joint in her body felt stiff. She could barely turn her neck and even that was hard. She was paralyzed.

"We got one!" one of the bandits cried. It was like turning on a lamp in a crowd of moths. All of the bandits flooded to Hinata. She felt someone pick her up. While only one was holding her the rest needed to cover his escape. She could see Neji and the rest of the crowd fighting to break free from the barrier of brigands but there were too much to get through them fast enough. She forced herself to deactivate her Byakuugan; they were of no use to her anymore. Even if they broke through they would never reach her in time. A single tear welled in her eyes as she forced herself to not cry. She sniveled a little.

So this is what becomes of the Hyuuga Heiress; sped away in the hands of a bandit. She felt the poison working its way through her, and became tired.

A voice called out to them.

"I believe you are carrying something which does not belong to you!" she felt a sudden jerk in her captor and she then fell into another set of hands. A sickening crunch was heard as the bandit that kidnapped her smashed into a rock before being burnt away into ashes.

"You're going to be alright Hinata."

She felt a gentle lick on her hand before passing out.

---

Back at the skirmish, Neji desperately searched for any source that pointed towards the location of his cousin. He could faintly feel it but that was all it was. He couldn't tell where she was exactly.

'_The poison must have put her unconscious. It probably knocked out some parts of her chakra momentarily to help hide her position as well,"_ he thought. He gritted his teeth and fatally closed an enemy's Tenketsu point without mercy.

As Neji turned to strike down another enemy, however, someone had finished the job before him. Jutting out of the bandit's chest was a rectangular sword. The blade withdrew, letting the bandit fall to the ground.

"Naruto! You're…" Neji was unable to finish his sentence as he viewed Naruto. He was still dressed in his dark clothing but he now had many tails fanning about behind him. His ears disappeared and were replaced with fox ears. His whisker scars were much wider and visible.

"Hold onto her for a moment," Naruto carefully brought one of his tails over to Neji and dropped Hinata into his arms. Kitsune-chan appeared from behind and worriedly paced around Neji, worried about his charge's condition.

"I'm going to ask you to be as calm as possible, Neji." Raising his blade Naruto slammed it into the earth. Immediately flames erupted from the ground, consuming the bandits around them. Silence reigned as the cries of anguish disappeared, leaving only the sound of crackling flames.

The rest of Sasuke's guards were surprised at the sudden eruption and searched for the source, their eyes landing on Naruto. He pulled his blade out of the earth and the flames receded. He looked at them and they backed away.

It was then that Konohamaru gathered his senses. Grabbing a rosary he attached it to his staff and recited a quick prayer. His staff glowed a little before Konohamaru it picked up and hurled it at Naruto, landing at his feet. A barrier immediately surrounded him.

"I know who you are now. I should have caught on earlier," the teenager said.

"Do you now? Why don't you tell me my name then? We'll see who knows more." Naruto replied, walking towards the edge of the barrier.

"You're the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Demon Lord of the Fires of Hell!"

Naruto's mood turned foul then. "If you're going to call me by a name, you may as well get it right." Walking over to Konohamaru's staff, he pulled it out of the ground. Normally it would have burned the hands of a demon. But…

"You got just about everything wrong. The only thing right was my nickname, Kyuubi."

He threw the staff back to Konohamaru, its power deactivating in mid-flight.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I am an angel."


End file.
